Iran's Request to Pakistan for Urgent Action to Free Hostages

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, spoke by phone on Wednesday, October 17, with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi regarding the fate of border forces kidnapped by Jaish al-Adl. Zarif called for urgent action from the Pakistani government to ensure the safety and health of the kidnapped forces at the Mirjaveh border and to identify and arrest the kidnappers. According to the Afghan section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Mohammad Faisal, spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday that Iranian and Pakistani officials are in contact regarding this matter, and Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed his 'serious concern about this incident' to his Iranian counterpart. The Pakistani Foreign Minister also informed Tehran that Pakistani security forces have begun their efforts to locate the Iranian hostages. These efforts reportedly include enhancing aerial surveillance and deploying forces in border areas. The previous day, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced in a statement that 14 Iranian border guards had been kidnapped near the Mirjaveh border area in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Some sources mention the number of abducted individuals as 11. Meanwhile, Jaish al-Adl has also announced that its forces completely disarmed a security base in Mirjaveh on Tuesday morning. The Islamic Republic considers this group to be terrorist. The group claims that 'among the captives are seven members' of the Revolutionary Guards and five from the police special forces. Various reports have emerged regarding the number of kidnapped forces. While some Iranian officials say 12 were abducted, Iran's Minister of Interior on Wednesday sent a letter to his Pakistani counterpart, Shahryar Afridi, requesting Islamabad's cooperation for the release of 14 Iranian border guards. According to IRNA, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran's Minister of Interior, in this letter, referred to the kidnapping of 14 Iranian border guards by Jaish al-Adl and 'requested the Pakistani government to pay special attention to its security commitments to prevent the activities of bandits from this country against border posts and incursions into the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' The Minister of Interior emphasized that all efforts should be directed towards the release of the hostages and 'preventing the recurrence of such bitter and unfortunate incidents.' In this letter, the Minister of Interior added to the Pakistani Minister of Interior that, within the framework of bilateral relations and the principle of good neighborliness, as well as security commitments between the two countries, joint operations until results are achieved are urgently necessary. In recent years, there have been armed clashes between Jaish al-Adl and the IRGC and Iranian border guards in southeastern Iran, particularly in Sistan and Baluchestan province. This group claims to defend 'Sunni people' in the province.