Iran wants Pakistan action on border raid

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham has called on Pakistan to identify, apprehend and extradite the perpetrators of a recent terrorist attack that killed 14 Iranian border guards.

During her weekly press conference on Tuesday, Afkham condemned the terrorist attack that killed the 14 Iranian border guards and wounded three others in the border region of Saravan in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan on October 25.

She added that Iran is pursuing the implementation of a security agreement between Tehran and Islamabad.

In February, Iran and Pakistan signed a security agreement, under which both countries are required to cooperate in preventing and combating organized crime, fighting terrorism and countering the activities that pose a threat to the national security of either country.

Referring to the fact that the whole region suffers from terrorist activities, Afkham expressed hope that this ominous phenomenon would be eradicated through the cooperation of all countries.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran Sohail Siddiqui told IRNA that Pakistani officials are pursuing the matter and that if the perpetrators of the attack are found to be on Pakistani soil, they will be extradited to Iran according to the extradition treaty between the two countries.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry had summoned Siddiqui on Saturday to convey to the Islamabad government the Islamic Republic’s protest over the deadly attack.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has called for an investigation into the incident, tasking the Foreign Ministry with taking the necessary measures to implement the border security agreement with Pakistan.

Shaheed’s claims

Afkham further reacted to a question concerning a recent report by Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, about the situation of human rights in the country, describing it as “biased” and “political.”

“Unfortunately, this report has taken a political approach and its sources are the ones that are completely biased toward the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said the Iranian diplomat, adding, “The documents provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran over previous cases and in response to Ahmed Shaeed’s questions, doubts and claims were not seen in the report.”