ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani stressed Pakistan’s right to respond in a telephonic conversation with his Iranian counterpart on Wednesday following the “unprovoked violation of its airspace” by Tehran, according to the Foreign Office (FO).
Earlier today, the FO said Pakistan decided to recall its ambassador from Iran and suspend all high-level visits ongoing or planned between the two countries following the incident.
Iran, on the other hand, claimed that it targeted an “Iranian terrorist group” and “none of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones”.
The developments came after the FO, in a statement released late on Tuesday night, denounced the strikes in Pakistani territory that resulted in “deaths of two innocent children while injuring of three girls”. It termed the incident a “violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty”.
Iran’s state-run Nour News agency said the attack destroyed the Pakistan headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the “focal point of this operation was the region known as Kouh-Sabz (green mountain)” in Balochistan.
“Two key strongholds of the Jaysh al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) terrorist group in Pakistan” were “specifically targeted and successfully demolished by a combination of missile and drone attacks”, the Tasnim news agency said.
Local authorities said they had also received information about such an attack but had no further details. Reports from the area suggested that a missile hit a mosque, partially damaging it and injuring some people.
According to AFP, hours before the attack, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
A press release issued today from the FO said that FM Jilani, currently leading the Pakistan delegation to the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Uganda’s Kampala, received a telephone call from his Iranian counterpart on the matter.
“Expressing Pakistan’s unreserved condemnation of the attack, the foreign minister added that the incident has caused serious damage to bilateral ties between Pakistan and Iran. The foreign minister added that Pakistan reserved the right to respond to this provocative act,” the FO said.
FM Jilani “firmly underscored” that the attack was not only a “serious breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty” but was also an “egregious violation of international law and the spirit of bilateral relations” between Pakistan and Iran.
“Stressing that terrorism was a common threat to the region and required concerted and coordinated efforts to combat this menace, the foreign minister underlined that unilateral actions could seriously undermine regional peace and stability. No country in the region should tread this perilous path,” the FO said.
