Monday, 22 April, 2019 - 11:00
A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) and Pakistani PM Imran Khan reviewing the honor guard in Tehran on Monday. (AFP)
Asharq Al-Awsat
Pakistan and Iran will form a rapid response force to combat militant activity on their shared border.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made the announcement Monday during a televised press conference in Tehran with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“We agreed to increase the security cooperation of the two countries, our border forces, our intelligence forces,” Rouhani said. “And also to form a joint quick reaction force on the border of the two countries for fighting terrorism.”
Khan said that militant activity at the border could be a source of tension.
“The most important reason why I’m here, Mr. President, is because I felt that the issue of terrorism was going to ... increase differences between our countries,” Khan said during the joint press conference. “So it was very important for me to come here and come with our security chief that we resolve this issue.”
Khan had arrived in Iran on Sunday to discuss security and regional issues, Iranian state TV reported, a day after Islamabad urged Tehran to act against militants behind killings in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.
Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been strained in recent months, with both sides accusing each other of not doing enough to stamp out militants allegedly sheltering across the border.
A new umbrella group representing various insurgent groups operating in Baluchistan claimed responsibility for an attack on Thursday when 14 passengers were killed after being kidnapped from buses in the province, which borders Iran.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday the training and logistical camps of the new alliance that carried out the attack were based inside Iran and called on Iran to take action against the insurgents.
Tehran has stepped up security along its long border with Pakistan after a suicide bomber killed 27 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in mid-February in southeastern Iran, with Iranian officials saying the attackers were based inside Pakistan.
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1690216/pakistan-iran-form-rapid-response-force-border