Rouhani's Letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan Protesting the Killing of Ten Border Guards

Following the death of ten Iranian border guards in Sistan and Baluchestan, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Pakistani ambassador to protest against the attack "from the territory" of Pakistan, and Hassan Rouhani also called for the "legal prosecution" and trial of those responsible for this attack in a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan. According to the state news agency IRNA, Bahram Qasemi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, announced on Friday, April 27, that the Pakistani ambassador in Tehran had been summoned to the ministry. During this meeting, the Director General for West Asia of the Foreign Ministry conveyed the Islamic Republic's protest to the Pakistani ambassador and stated: "We strongly expect the Pakistani side to take serious and fundamental actions to arrest the terrorists and punish them." Mr. Qasemi also stated that the Islamic Republic expects Pakistan to "act on its previous promises" and not allow such incidents to be repeated from "its borders and territory" in the future. In this context, on Thursday, the Pakistani consul in the city of Zahedan was also summoned to the governor's office of Sistan and Baluchestan, where the governor protested the actions of the Pakistani government and called for greater cooperation from Islamabad in combating "bandits." The border guards at "Post Mile 100" from the Chahandou battalion (Mirjaveh border regiment) were attacked by armed individuals last Wednesday, resulting in the death of ten border guards. The Jaish al-Adl group claimed responsibility for this attack. Molavi Abdolhamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, also condemned this attack as "dishonorable." Earlier, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry had asked the Pakistani government to be accountable regarding what he called the "presence and operations of wicked groups" in its territory. Meanwhile, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, expressed "deep concern and severe regret" in his letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan regarding the "repetition of terrorist attacks from Pakistani territory" against Iran. Mr. Rouhani requested that "those responsible for this terrorist act be prosecuted and brought to justice." He emphasized that "despite the promises" of Pakistani officials, "for the umpteenth time, similar attacks have been carried out by bandits and terrorist groups from this country against Iran." Iranian military and security officials have criticized Pakistan in recent years for what they call "negligence" in securing the joint borders. In April 2016, during a visit to Pakistan, President Rouhani emphasized that the security agreement previously signed between the two countries "must be operationalized" so that Iran can better secure its borders in Sistan and Baluchestan. The Prime Minister of Pakistan also spoke during a visit to Tehran in 2015 about his country's "determination" to cooperate with Iran in combating the Jaish al-Adl group, which is an armed opposition group against the Islamic Republic. In his letter, the Iranian President also accused some unnamed regional countries of "targeting the unity of the Islamic world with their proxy wars and trying to replace violence, insecurity, poverty, and backwardness with growth, prosperity, dignity, and well-being of the people in the region by supporting terrorist actions." Previously, several high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic, including Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, had accused Saudi Arabia of attempting to create insecurity in eastern and western Iran and "sending weapons" and supporting "terrorist groups" in this region. In this context, Mohsen Rezaei, the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, accused Saudi Arabia in late July 2016 of establishing a base in Pakistani Baluchistan and a base in Iraqi Kurdistan to "destabilize" Iran. The Sistan and Baluchestan province in southeastern Iran has repeatedly been the site of confrontations between the Islamic Republic's military and law enforcement forces and armed groups, which Iranian officials refer to as "terrorists," "smugglers," and "bandits." However, the armed opposition groups in Sistan and Baluchestan refer to themselves as "defenders of Sunni rights."