ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a telephonic conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and assured him that Pakistan will never allow the terrorists to use its soil to carry out attacks on Iran.
“Pakistan is strongly committed to guaranteeing security along its borders with Iran,” the prime minister said.
The prime minister also assured the Iranian president that “Pakistan would spare no efforts to help release the kidnapped Iranian border guards.”
On February 6, a Sunni militant group Jaish ul Adl abducted five Iranian border guards in Jakigour region in the Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan and allegedly took them across the border to Pakistan. The militant group claimed on Sunday that it had killed one of the five Iranian soldiers, Jamshid Danaeifar.
On Tuesday, Iran expressed deep regret at the death of one of the five border guards, noting that Islamabad should be held accountable for the grave incident. The Iranian foreign ministry called on Pakistan to take serious and prompt action to arrest those terrorists and guarantee the release of the Iranian soldiers.
During the conversation, the Iranian president said that Iran expected serious measures to be taken by Pakistani officials to help release the border guards.
The prime minister further said that his country attaches special significance to brotherly ties with Iran which have their roots in cultural, religious and historical commonalities. He also congratulated the president Rouhani and the Iranian nation on the occasion of Nawroz, the Persian new-year.
Rouhani underlined his country’s resolve to cooperate with Pakistan to counter terrorism in the region and said Tehran is ready to cooperate with Islamabad, at any level, to establish security along the borders.
