Iran, India Eager to Begin Anti-Terror Cooperation

EghtesadOnline: Iran and India, which have both suffered deadly militant attacks in the past week, agreed on Saturday to cooperate in combating terrorism in the region.

News ID: ۷۴۶۷۱۴

18 February 2019

The agreement was made during a meeting between Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Tehran where they discussed issues of mutual and regional interest, ISNA reported.

A suicide attack took place in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan last Wednesday, which claimed the lives of 27 members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl (Army of Justice), which is thought to operate from western Pakistan, claimed the car bombing, according to Financial Tribune.

A day after this incident, a similar attack was carried out in the city of Srinagar in India’s Jammu and Kashmir region where at least 44 soldiers were killed.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group claimed the attack, which was the deadliest in decades in the region.

Cars laden with explosives slammed into vehicles carrying military forces in both attacks.

Indian and Iranian authorities have both blamed Pakistan for failing to ensure the security of border areas, urging the Islamabad government to take more serious measures against cross-border terrorist activities.

Pakistan Envoy Summoned

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned Pakistan’s Ambassador in Tehran Riffat Masood to protest about the bombing.

Pointing to the rise of terrorist attacks from Pakistan’s soil, the ministry called upon Islamabad to act more effectively against militant groups to avert the deterioration of bilateral ties.

The southeastern neighbor was also urged to immediately identify and arrest the elements behind last week’s tragic event.

Later in the day, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, in which he strongly denounced the terror attack on IRGC personnel and said his side is ready to cooperate in the investigation of the “deplorable” incident.

The IRGC had announced earlier that Iran would take action to retaliate against the terrorist group if Pakistan failed to confront them, as it is entitled to counter foreign threats based on international regulations.

India’s Foreign Ministry also demanded in a statement that “Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries”.

At the Saturday meeting, which was held during Swaraj’s brief stopover in Tehran before setting off for Europe, both diplomats condemned the terrorist attacks, expressing mutual sympathy and stressing the importance of establishing peace in the region through dialogue.

Araqchi on Twitter described the incidents as “two heinous terrorist attacks” that “resulted in big casualties”.

“Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj … we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough!” he tweeted.