Ties with Iran: Nisar vows to deter foes from sowing malice

Interior minister, Iranian envoy discuss Rowhani’s visit, Indian spy’s arrest

ISLAMABAD:

A day after Islamabad formally requested Tehran for assistance in uncovering India’s subversive activities against Pakistan, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said nothing can come between Pakistan and Iran’s ‘brotherly’ relationship.

“Pakistan and Iran are tied by decades-long religious, social, cultural and political bonds. Nothing can come in the way of our brotherly relations,” he said in a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost at the Punjab House on Friday.



According to an official statement, the minister and the envoy discussed matters pertaining to Islamabad and Tehran’s bilateral relationship, Iranian President Hassan Rowhani’s recent visit to Pakistan and the assistance the interior ministry has sought regarding the recent arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav in Balochistan.

On Thursday, the interior ministry sent a communiqué to the Iranian ambassador, requesting Tehran to arrest and hand over Yadav’s accomplice who, like him, also works for India’s Research and Analysis Wing, and to provide detailed information about the spy’s visits to Iran and people he and his partner contacted there.

During the meeting, Nisar and Honardoost expressed satisfaction over President Rowhani’s recent visit, the statement said.



“The momentum created by the recent high level visit should be fully utilised for further deepening of Pakistan-Iran relations in all possible areas,” it quoted the interior minister as saying. “We need to build on the gains of the past and work hand in hand to overcome our shared challenges and achieve common objectives for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries.”

Nisar added that Pakistan and Iran’s joint stance on various issues in the region at international forums “will deter our foes from any malice against the two countries.”

The Iranian ambassador assured the minister that the government of Iran will extend full cooperation on all issues that ensure security and development in Pakistan and Iran. He said that good relations between the two countries should result in tangible improvement in bilateral trade and developmental projects.



“We have to remove the impediments in way of further strengthening of our bilateral relations,” he was quoted as saying in the official statement.

The envoy deplored attempts in some sections of the media to negatively impact relations between the two countries in spite of greatly successful visit of President of Iran.

The interior minister said that the media in Pakistan is independent of the government but that does not mean to allow anybody to affect bilateral relations between the two countries. He said that all sections of Pakistani society are unanimous in their support for stronger Pakistan-Iran relations.



The Iranian embassy had on Thursday denounced ‘rumours’ it said were circulated by some sections of the Pakistani media to undermine ties between Islamabad and Tehran.


Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2016.