MPs Welcome Pakistan's Move to Bolster Border Control

Lawmakers said the Pakistani Army's move to increase its guards across the border with Iran will help the two countries battle the scourge of terrorism more efficiently, calling on Islamabad to take measures to root out terrorists operating inside its borders.

Last week, Chairman of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said the Pakistani Army had stationed units along its border to ensure better security in areas terrorists used earlier to launch cross-border attacks against Iran.

In a recent talk with ICANA, lawmaker Qasem Jasemi, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Relations Commission, expressed satisfaction at the higher number of Pakistani troops, saying, "We hope these measures would lead to sustainable security along the common border and that terrorists could not use [their safe havens in] Pakistan to launch any further attacks against Iran."

Iran, which shares a 909-kilometer border with Pakistan, has frequently complained to Islamabad about terrorists based there who mount cross-border attacks against Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province bordering Pakistan.

On April 26, 11 Iranian border guards were killed and three others injured in clashes near the border town of Mirjaveh. The Pakistan-based Jaish ul-Adl terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Tehran reacted by saying that it reserved the right to respond to the attack and warned that "its patience was wearing thin" over Pakistan's lack of cooperation. Iran's police said the border guards were killed by long-range weapons fired from Pakistani soil. One day later on April 27, President Hassan Rouhani sent a letter to the then prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, calling on Islamabad to prosecute and bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack and work to curb terrorist groups' activities along the common border.

  Unacceptable Situation

"By taking advantage of lax security, terrorists carried out their attacks and then fled to Pakistan," Jasemi said, noting that the situation had become unacceptable. Lawmaker Mojtaba Zolnour said Iran could have pursued the terrorists even inside the Pakistani border but decided not to do so, adding that Islamabad should preserve its borders.

"The country of origin would be held accountable for any attack coming from its side of border against another country."

General Baqeri had said in May that Iran "will hit terrorists' safe havens and cells, wherever they are" if Pakistan did not confront militants carrying out cross-border attacks. Lawmaker Valiollah Nanvakenari said the main problem was that Islamabad is "abandoning [the security of] its borders," effectively encouraging such terror groups.

"Iran's protest was that why Pakistan did not tighten control over its border," he said.

"With the two countries enhancing cooperation concerning the borders, we will definitely see positive results in the future."