Iran-Pakistan to root out terrorism, says Najjar

Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar on Thursday expressed the hope that Iran and Pakistan together will be able to eliminate menace of terrorism.

Talking to media after meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani, the Iranian minister said that next month Iran and Pakistan would sign a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation on security issues.

He described his visit to Pakistan as successful adding that he had constructive meetings with Pakistani leadership.

“We want to have strong relations with Pakistan”, he said. The minister added that Iran-Pakistan cooperation is necessary to fight the menace of terrorism.

He said terrorists have no right to carry out activities in Pakistan.

Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar opined that strong Iran-Pakistan relation would bring stability to the region.

The minister said that Chief Minister of Balochistan and Iranian officials of areas bordering Pakistan will soon hold a meeting to discuss the provincial cooperation.

He vowed to take the trade volume between Iran and Pakistan from one billion dollars to 10 billion dollars.

He expressed sorrow over the destruction caused by floods in Pakistan. He said the Iranian government has allocated 100 million dollars aid to flood victims in Pakistan.

Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said that Iran wants to take its part in building the flood affected areas in southern Pakistan.

He strongly condemned an attack on a bus, carrying Shiite Muslims in southwestern Balochistan province this month which had killed 29 pilgrims going to Iran. He said that in the past terrorists had carried out such attacks on pilgrims.

The minister said that Iran is taking all measures in their areas to protect pilgrims.

He thanked the Pakistani Interior Minister for his hospitality and warm welcome.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik on the occasion said that he had bilateral discussions on security issues with his Iranian counterpart. “I assured my brother that we are against terrorism”, he added.

He said that Jundullah has got no place in Pakistan and action will be taken against anyone who tries to ‘use our soil for terrorism’.

“We have been provided with some information by the Iranian minister and we will take stern action on the report”, he said. He said Pakistan has already handed over ten terrorists to Iran.

“Anything which we find is the property of Iran we will hand over to them”, he remarked.

“We will not allow any kind of terrorism and we will not allow these groups in Pakistan”, said Rehman Malik.

The minister added that Iran and Pakistan have also discussed border management. “We are also working together to stop the human trafficking and of course there is involvement of Iranian agents , I have requested the Iranian minister to take strong action against Iranian agents who actually facilitate Pakistanis to route through Iran, Turkey and Europe”, said the Pakistani Interior Minister.

“President Zardari, Prime Minister Gillani ,the Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are working together to bring consensus in Muslim Ummah, this is the need of the time that Muslim Ummah should be united and face the challenges”, said Rehman Malik.

He condemned the incident in Pakistani Balochistan in which pilgrims traveling to Iran were killed adding that the act should be condemned as much as possible.

“We know Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has done it and we have taken stern measures in Punjab and in coming days you will see a strong action in that area”, he said.

He added ‘We want to weed out these terrorists we cannot allow this kind of massacre, and in future pilgrims traveling to Iran will be escorted by police and frontier corps.’