Pakistan discloses name of mediator

FC says border guards were handed over in Sistan-Baluchestan to local tribal elder Taj Mohammad.

QUETTA: Frontier Corps (FC) and Balochistan’s Home Department strongly rebutted the Iranian news agency’s report that kidnapped Iranian border guards were freed in Pakistan.

The Iranian news agency claimed that the guards were handed over to officials in Pakistan. However, the Pakistani officials rubbished the claims.

“The border guards were handed over in Sistan-Baluchestan to local tribal elder Taj Mohammad, who played the role of mediator between the kidnappers and Iranian government. Taj belonged to the Iranian tribe Shah Baksh, a well known Baloch tribe in Sistan-Baluchestan,” an FC spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the Iranian border guards were held hostage and later freed in Iranian territory. “The kidnappers had never entered Pakistan. However, the Iranian border guards resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling several times,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2014.