Middle East protests: Pakistan tries to pacify Iran over Bahrain aid
Tehran miffed over reports that Pakistan has sent military aid to Manama.
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan is trying to pacify Iran over the recent initiatives that the former has taken in Afghanistan and the Gulf.
An official source, requesting anonymity, said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s recent trip to Tehran as a special emissary of President Asif Ali Zardari was part of these initiatives.
Tehran had expressed its reservations over not taking Iran into confidence while establishing a high-level joint Pak-Afghan commission to resolve the ten-year-old Afghan crisis.
Malik had taken a personal message of President Zardari for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sources said.
Bahrain foreign minister’s latest trip to Pakistan was aimed at seeking Islamabad’s help in pacifying protests in Bahrain, Iran’s Tehran Times had reported last week, quoting Ahlul Bayt news agency.
But Islamabad had categorically denied that it had sent troops to Bahrain to help that country’s armed forces crush the people’s uprising against the government. Pakistan’s charge d’affairs in Tehran had told Iranian authorities last month that Islamabad never provided military personnel to Bahrain.
The Pakistani envoy made this statement when he was summoned by the Iranian foreign affairs ministry to receive a letter of protest following reports that Pakistani troops had been deployed in Bahrain.
Pakistan has maintained that although it had provided manpower to Gulf countries, it has never sent army personnel to Bahrain.
According to reports, about 40,000 Pakistanis are serving in Bahraini armed forces, including the navy, air force and army. Many are also serving in the Bahraini police.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2011.
Pakistan is trying to pacify Iran over the recent initiatives that the former has taken in Afghanistan and the Gulf.
An official source, requesting anonymity, said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s recent trip to Tehran as a special emissary of President Asif Ali Zardari was part of these initiatives.
Tehran had expressed its reservations over not taking Iran into confidence while establishing a high-level joint Pak-Afghan commission to resolve the ten-year-old Afghan crisis.
Malik had taken a personal message of President Zardari for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sources said.
Bahrain foreign minister’s latest trip to Pakistan was aimed at seeking Islamabad’s help in pacifying protests in Bahrain, Iran’s Tehran Times had reported last week, quoting Ahlul Bayt news agency.
But Islamabad had categorically denied that it had sent troops to Bahrain to help that country’s armed forces crush the people’s uprising against the government. Pakistan’s charge d’affairs in Tehran had told Iranian authorities last month that Islamabad never provided military personnel to Bahrain.
The Pakistani envoy made this statement when he was summoned by the Iranian foreign affairs ministry to receive a letter of protest following reports that Pakistani troops had been deployed in Bahrain.
Pakistan has maintained that although it had provided manpower to Gulf countries, it has never sent army personnel to Bahrain.
According to reports, about 40,000 Pakistanis are serving in Bahraini armed forces, including the navy, air force and army. Many are also serving in the Bahraini police.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2011.