ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday that there are no signs of presence of missing Iranian guards on its soil; however it assured its full cooperation to Iran for the recovery of these guards.
“Our authorities have combed Pakistani territory in search of missing Iranian guards, however, there are no clues that they are on our land,” said the foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam during her weekly briefing in Islamabad on Thursday.
The spokesperson said that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also discussed this issue by telephone.
Aslam said that Iranian guards went missing at least 5 to 10 kilometers inside Sistan and a Sunni militant group Jaish ul Adl claimed the responsibility.
“Pakistan will extend its all possible cooperation to Iran for the recovery of these guards,” she said.
On February 6, 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 held Pakistan accountable for the grave incident and called on Islamabad to take serious and prompt action to arrest those terrorists and guarantee the release of the Iranian soldiers.
“The dead body of killed Iranian guard was not found from Pakistani territory, which gives the hint that where guards might be,” the spokesperson added.
