Pakistan-Iran border remains open: official

QUETTA:

Despite Pakistan protesting against Tehran’s recent airstrikes in a village in Panjgur district of Balochistan province, a senior administration official in Taftan town on Thursday told The Express Tribune that the Pakistan-Iran border remained open throughout the day.

He continued that routine trade activities and movement of the people was under way at the border.

"We have not been instructed to shut down the border,” the official added, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Iranian authorities claimed to have targeted a militant camp being operated by the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in the Pakistani territory.

Jaish al-Adl, or "Army of Justice", has carried out attacks inside Iran as well as on Pakistani government forces.

However, Pakistan condemned the attack describing it as a “blatant violation” of its airspace and said it had killed two children.

"[The missiles] fired by the Iranian forces landed at a house and killed two children,” Makran Division Commissioner Saeed Ahmed Umrani told The Express Tribune on the phone.

He said four people, including three children and a woman, were also injured in the attack.

"Women and children cannot live at a militant camp,” Umrani continued.

The bodies of the two children – a six-year-old girl and an 11-month-old boy -- were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Panjgur.

Read also: Iran says it targeted 'Iranian terrorist group' in Pakistan

The four injured people were rushed to the hospital for medical treatment as well.

The commissioner maintained that the missiles had landed at the residence of one Kareem Dad alias Idrees.

In a related development, Pakistani envoy Mudassir Tipu on Thursday returned to Islamabad from Tehran.

A Pakistani delegation, participating in the Joint Border Commission (JBC) meeting in the Iranian port city of Chabahar, also came back to the country.

A day earlier, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Office announced that Islamabad was recalling its ambassador to Iran over the strikes.

She added that Pakistan had asked the Iranian ambassador, who was visiting Tehran, not to return.

In response to the Iranian aggression, Islamabad had also decided to immediately suspend all official joint initiatives with Tehran.

The Pakistani delegation, led by Balochistan Customs Chief Collector Bashir Memon, was busy in the JBC meeting for the first day but it returned to the country soon after the airspace violation by the Iranian forces.

Members of the Quetta Chambers of Commerce and Industry (QCCI), provincial government officials and senior security officers were also part of the delegation.

Read: Pakistan carries out 'precision strikes' on terrorist hideouts in Iran

"We are retuned in protest against the Iranian government’s attack [on our soil],” said QCCI President Abdullah Achakzai.

He added that the delegation was discussing a host of issues with the Iranian officials when the attack took place.

The two countries had established the JBC, which meets after every quarter to discuss issues relating to the Pakistan-Iran border.

Terrorism, human trafficking and trade have always been on the agenda of the commission’s meetings.

Pakistan has tightened security at around 900-kilometre border with Iran.

Frontier Corps and Levies have been deployed at the border to tackle any situation and timely respond in the case of any aggression from Iran.

Interim Balochistan Chief Minister Ali Mardan Domki also chaired a meeting to review the security arrangements as well as the law and order situation along the border with Iran.

Senior government and security officials attended the meeting.

The participants of the meeting decided to further tighten security in the areas bordering with Iran.

(With input from our News Desk in Karachi)