TEHRAN – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Iran for two days.Pakistan and Iran on Monday agreed to boost security cooperation and set upa Joint Rapid Reaction Force to fight terrorism and guard the common borderbetween the two countries.
‘The most important reason why I’m here, Mr. President,’ Khan said,addressing Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, ‘is because I felt that theissue of terrorism was going to … increase differences between ourcountries.’
The Pakistani guest made a commitment concerning militants using hiscountry’s soil near the border as a safe haven: ‘We trust that bothcountries will not have terrorist activities from their soil,’ he said. ‘Wewill not allow any damage to your country from our soil.’
Imran Khan, along with a delegation, was on his maiden two-day officialvisit of Iran, at the invitation of Iranian President Rouhani, tostrengthen bilateral and commercial relations.
Imran Khan also met with Iran´s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whocalled for the ‘strengthening of relations in spite of the will of enemies.’
Ayatollah Khamenei blamed those unnamed ‘enemies’ for the attacks on bothsides of the Iran-Pakistan border, which the supreme leader said wereintended to ‘contaminate’ relations between the two Muslim nations.
“We will cooperate with each other in helping political settlement ofAfghan issue as peace in the war-torn country will help both Pakistan andIran, the prime minister said. Iran and Pakistan have agreed to set up ajoint border ‘reaction force’ following a number of deadly attacks bymilitant groups on their frontier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhaniannounced on Monday after talks with visiting Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khan.
‘We agreed to create a joint rapid reaction force at the borders forcombating terrorism,’ Rouhani told a joint news conference, followingmonths of increased tensions over attacks on both sides of the frontier.
‘The security chief will sit down with his counterpart here and discuss(security) cooperation,’ Khan said, although no details were given on thejoint force. ‘We trust that both countries will not have terroristactivities from their soil … We will not allow any damage to your countryfrom our soil,’ said the Pakistani premier.
Stressing that ‘no third country’ could harm Iran-Pakistan ties, anapparent reference to the United States and its policy of isolating theIslamic republic, Rouhani said Tehran was ready to boost trade and businessties with Islamabad.
‘In the current situation, the region’s countries must decide and plan fortheir interests independently and directly,’ Rouhani said. For his part,Khan said his visit to Tehran aimed to ‘find ways to increase trade andcooperation… in energy and other areas’, noting that two-way trade was’very limited’.
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The joint statement issued after the conclusion of Prime Minister ImranKhan’s two day official visit to Iran said both sides reiterated theimportance of deepening and reinforcing bilateral ties based on principlesof national interest, territorial integrity and mutual respect for nationalsovereignty.
Both sides highlighted that common borders should be the borders of peaceand friendship, and acknowledged the necessity of forging regularcooperation and exchange of views between political, military and securityofficials of the two countries to combat threats such as terrorism,smuggling of narcotics, human trafficking, hostage-taking, money-launderingand abduction. It was also agreed that the 10th Round of the SpecialSecurity Committee of the two Ministries of Interior will be held inIslamabad in June 2019 to discuss these matters in detail.
They called for swift implementation of bilateral agreements as a steptowards realizing this important goal.
Both sides acknowledged the necessity of forging regular cooperation andexchange of views between political, military and security officials of thetwo countries to combat threats such as terrorism, smuggling of narcotics,human trafficking, hostage-taking, money-laundering and abduction.
They called for swift implementation of bilateral agreements as a steptowards realizing this important goal.
It was also agreed that the 10th Round of the Special Security Committee ofthe two Ministries of Interior will be held in Islamabad in June 2019 todiscuss these matters in detail.
It was also agreed that the next meeting of the Joint Consular Commissionwould be held on 2nd half of 2019 to review the progress made so far andchart the way forward in further facilitating the movement of people fromboth sides. Pakistan side welcomed the initiation of the process forrelease of a number of Pakistani prisoners by the government of Iran, andfor making arrangements for their expeditious repatriation to Pakistan.
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Prime Minister of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan agreed that enhancing and cementing cooperationbetween Iran’s Sistan Baluchestan Province and Pakistan’s BalochistanProvince including opening of new border crossings and border markets wouldcontribute towards improvement of the economic situation of localresidents, and further constitutes a step towards resolving borderchallenges and insecurities.
Both sides agreed to hold the 2nd Round of High Border Commission inIslamabad in May 2019 to review the current status of preparations andfurther measures required for the earliest opening of new crossing pointsat Gabd-Reemdan and Mand-Pishin, besides opening of new border markets.
