The chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accused the United States, Britain and Pakistan for having links with sunni militants responsible for a suicide bombing in Sistan that killed five senior commanders of Iranian guards and 37 others. There is a perception that Iran has accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency just to pressurize Pakistan into taking ruthless action against the group. In view of precious loss of life, Iran has every reason to be angry but its reaction appears to be rather premature, and it would have been much better to hold an inquiry before issuing any official statement. Pakistan and Iran have indeed excellent relations spanned over more than six decades. However, friendly countries can have some areas of convergence and of divergence. And Afghanistan is the place where Pakistan’s interests and Iran’s ambitions collide. During Taliban era, there were differences between Pakistan and Iran when Pakistan supported the Taliban and Iran supported the Northern Alliance. Having said all, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman has denied the charge that intelligence agency was involved or Abdolmalik Regi is in Balochistan. Nevertheless, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has assured that Pakistan will provide full assistance to Iran in the probe. On cannot say with certainty whether the suicide attack was launched from Pakistani soil, or the attackers infiltrated from Afghanistan border where British troops hold the charge. Secondly, America’s intentions to destabilize Iran or for regime-change were not hidden, as it had provided in the CIA’s classified budget hundreds of million of dollars for the purpose. Pakistan’s time-tested and all-weather friend, China too is unhappy over increased presence of Americans in Pakistan, especially expansion of the US embassy in Islamabad. Pakistan should tell Americans not to create problems for Pakistan because we have to live here as a neighbour of both Iran and China. Anyhow, Pakistan and Iran should share intelligence and work together to destroy the terrorists’ network instead of resorting to blame game, because in such a situation our enemies would be happy. In the past, among others, Abdolmalik Rigi’s brother was arrested and handed over to Iran, which showed Pakistan’s desire to do its utmost to maintain good relations with Iran. It should be borne in mind that suicide bombing cannot be completely stopped. The US – the sole power and yesteryears super power Britain could not avert 9/11 and 7/7 despite having 21 and 10 intelligence agencies respectively. It is true that Sunni group Jundallah was cloned by the CIA, to take advantage of sunnis’ grievances over what was called their religious persecution. Anyhow, no sane person in Pakistan could ever think of becoming part of any intrigue to destabilize Iran, as Pakistan and Iran are bound together by faith, common heritage and shared values of love and peace. Pakistan and Iran have cooperated in the past, and stood by each other in the event of a calamity or crisis. Both countries have identical views with regard to the need for establishing fairness in international trading in this era of globalization. Both countries also feel the need to revitalize the Organization of Islamic Conference to effectively meet the challenges faced by Muslim Ummah at the present juncture when efforts are being made to malign Muslims and demonize Islam. There is no denying that Baluchistan has become the hotbed of alien agencies based in Afghanistan, and the regional hub of America’s CIA for its geopolitical activities. Pakistan should, therefore, review its foreign policy otherwise Pakistan’s relations with neighbouring countries could be adversely impacted. But it has to be understood that it is not only Pakistan’s responsibility to stop toing and foring of the militants on both sides of the border. Iran, Afghanistan and India are also required to guard their borders.
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