Pakistan asks Iran to make arrest after 4 Pakistani soldiers killed in cross-border attack

Islamabad: Pakistan has reportedly summoned the Iranian Ambassador to lodge a protest against the killing of four security personnel by terrorists who returned back to Iran, according to media reports.

However, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Office is yet to confirm the reports of the summoning of the ambassador but urged Iran to punish the culprits of the Panjgur cross-border attack on January 18 in the Chukab sector of Panjgur district of Balochistan province.

“We call upon the Iranian authorities to ensure a thorough investigation of the matter and hold the perpetrators accountable”, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a media briefing. “The terrorists used Iranian soil to target a convoy of security forces patrolling along the Pakistan-Iran border. We expect Iran to ensure that its territory is not used for cross-border attacks in Pakistan” the spokesperson told reporters.

Reliable sources confirmed that the Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Ali Hosseini was called to the Foreign Office to convey Pakistan’s grave concerns over the terrorist attack from inside Iranian territory. The Foreign Office spokesperson said that “our concerns regarding this incident are being shared with Iran.”

Immediately after the attack, Pakistan officials asked Iran to hunt the terrorists, who are still believed to be across the border. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also urged Iran to ensure that its territory was not used by terrorists for launching cross-border attacks. The Foreign Office said that “Pakistan denounces terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We have strongly committed that our territory will not be used for cross-border attacks in Iran and expect the same from Iran.”

Pakistan army said on Wednesday that “Iranian soil” had been used to launch an attack on a “convoy of security forces patrolling along the border”. Pakistan army’s media directorate ISPR described it as a “terrorist activity from across the Pakistan-Iran border”. The army’s official statement also asked Iranian authorities to arrest the terrorists on their side, the ISPR statement said. The Pakistan-Iran border is roughly 900km long along Pakistan’s western side.

The Iranian embassy in Islamabad in its statement condemned Wednesday’s attack and conveyed condolences to the families of the deceased. “Terrorism is the common problem facing Iran and Pakistan” and both countries have fallen victim to this “evil phenomenon”, the embassy said.