By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recalled its ambassador to Iran and suspended all high-level visits between the two neighbours on Wednesday, escalating a diplomatic crisis over a cross-border airstrike by Tehran that killed two children and wounded several others in a remote area of the restive southwestern Baluchistan province.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) said the strikes, which Iran said targeted a militant Sunni separatist group blamed for attacks inside its territory, were “completely unacceptable” and a violation of international law.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for FO, said Pakistan is recalling the country’s ambassador to Iran over the strikes.
“Last night’s unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty by Iran is a violation of international law and the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations,” Baloch told reporters in a briefing on Wednesday.
“We have also informed them that Pakistan has decided to recall its ambassador from Iran and that the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan who is currently visiting Iran may not return for the time being,” she added.
“We have also decided to suspend all high level visits which were ongoing or were planned between Pakistan and Iran in coming days.”
Baloch said Pakistan “reserves the right to respond”.
“This illegal act is completely unacceptable and has no justification whatsoever. Pakistan reserves the right to respond to this illegal act. The responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran.”
The development came hours after caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The strikes inside Pakistan also came a day after similar attacks carried out by Tehran inside other neighbours, Iraq and Syria.
Iranian media said the attack took place in the border town of Panjgur. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the “focal point of this operation was the region known as Kouh-Sabz in Balochistan.
“Two key strongholds of the Jaysh al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) terrorist group in Pakistan” were “specifically targeted and successfully demolished by a combination of missile and drone attacks”, the news agency said.
China, a close partner of both Iran and Pakistan, urged both sides to show restraint and maintain peace and stability.
“We call on both sides to exercise restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability,” Reuters quoted China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, as saying. “We consider both Iran and Pakistan as close neighbours and major Islamic countries.”
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