Pak-Iran relations

THE Iranian delegation headed by its Interior Minister, visiting Pakistan in the wake of the terrorism in Sistan, has been assured by Pakistan’s Prime Minister that Pakistan will provide all the help required to arrest the Sistan blasts’ terrorists. The meeting of the Iranians with their Pakistani counterparts, including the Interior Minister has shown some concrete results in the form of the setting up of a joint mechanism and intelligence sharing. Also there is an understanding to jointly enhance border security. But the issue is not so simple especially as long as the US continues to have virtually unhindered access in Balochistan, especially in areas close to Pakistan’s border with Iran. That is why the Iranian Intelligence Minister, from Tehran, has sought to advise Pakistani officials to take “a separate approach from that of the US” and to “heed” the information provided by Iran’s visiting delegation to the Interior Ministry.
It had taken a while for Pakistan and Iran to put their relations back on track, after the removal of the Taliban government from Afghanistan and the hanging of Iranian diplomat Ganji’s killer. But the underlying suspicions will not go away so easily and it will take time to repair the damage fully and move on to the better plane of relations between two states that have so much culture and history in common and no intractable conflict between them. So it is imperative that the Pakistan government deliver on its commitment to Iran regarding nabbing of the Jundullah leadership, which Rehman Malik gave out was in Kabul. In order for that to happen, Pakistan needs to ensure that the US does not again undermine the Pakistan-Iran relationship, by fanning terrorism in Sistan through Pakistan.