Beset on all sides

American drones hover — and strike — at will. Also, in the last week, Nato helicopters have intruded into our airspace in the vicinity of the Torkham border-crossing and India continues to fire into our lands across the Line of Control (LoC) — and now, the Iranians are dropping heavy hints that they, too, might cross our borders. Seemingly, there are no limits to who may for whatever reasons choose to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty. The issue that Iran bases its complaints upon is border security or the lack thereof. We share a 909-km-long border with Iran, as well as a 2,430-km-long with Afghanistan, 523-km-long with China and 2,912-km-long with India. Of these, only the Chinese border may be considered secure. Thus, there are 6,251kms of border, which has to be both, defended and as far as is possible, and rendered secure — and therein lies the problem.

The second-in-command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on October 16 that Iran was, in principle, against interfering in the affairs of another state, but if a state fails to abide by its obligations — i.e., to prevent cross-border incursions by groups attacking Iran — then Iran will have no choice but to act on its own to protect its interests. The implications are not entirely clear, but hot pursuit by Iranian forces cannot, it seems, be ruled out and nor can air strikes, though the latter are very unlikely.

The very last thing that both Iran and Pakistan need are ‘border incidents’ and we would urge Iran to show restraint and attempt to resolve any issues between our respective countries via diplomatic channels. There was an incursion by Iranian troops in May and a Pakistani citizen was shot dead. It may well be that Iran has something to complain about. If this is the case, it is the responsibility of Pakistan to ensure the security of the Iranian border on our side, and that means intercepting the movements of groups that are infiltrating Iran, and if this is indeed happening. Iranian concerns should be addressed. Pakistan should seek stability with its neighbours, not conflict.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2014.

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