Pakistan calls for tighter security on Iran border following fatal attack
While Iran and Pakistan have made significant progress on improving border security and stopping smugglers, a recent attack on Pakistani soldiers shows that much remains to be done.
Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Qamar Bajwa, has called on his Iranian counterpart, Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, to take immediate action to enhance border security and curb the attacks on Pakistani security forces by militants operating from the Iranian side.
In the May 13 phone call, Bajwa stressed that Pakistan wants “regional peace and stability on the basis of mutual respect, non-interference and equality,” according to a statement issued the Pakistan army’s public relations office.
The urgent call for action followed an attack on Pakistan’s side of the border on a reconnaissance vehicle carrying troops from the Frontier Corps. Five Pakistani soldiers and one officer were killed.
The troops were reportedly checking “possible routes used by terrorists in the mountainous and extremely treacherous terrain of Mekran” when an improvised explosive device went off about nine miles from the border with Iran. The banned separatist group the Baluchistan Liberation Army later claimed responsibility for the attack.
