Iran asks Pakistan to take urgent action to release hostages
On Wednesday, October 15, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed the fate of border guards kidnapped by Jaish al-Adl in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Zarif called for urgent action by the Pakistani government to ensure the safety and security of the kidnapped troops at the Mirjaveh border and to identify and arrest the kidnappers.
The previous day, the 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.
This is while the "Army of Justice" has also announced that its forces have "completely disarmed" a surveillance base in the city of Mirjaveh on Tuesday morning. The Islamic Republic considers this group to be terrorist.
The group says: "Among the prisoners are seven members of the Revolutionary Guards and five members of the police commando unit."
"All efforts should be made to free the hostages."
There have been varying reports on the number of troops abducted. While some Iranian officials say 12 have been abducted, Iran's interior minister on Wednesday wrote to his Pakistani counterpart Shahriar Afridi, asking Islamabad to cooperate in freeing 14 Iranian border guards.
According to IRNA, in this letter, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, referring to the kidnapping of 14 Iranian border guards by Jaish al-Adl, "called for the special attention and care of the Pakistani government to its security obligations in preventing the movements of evildoers from this country's soil to attack border posts and violate the territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Iran's interior minister has stated that all efforts should be focused on freeing the hostages and "preventing the recurrence of such bitter and unfortunate incidents."
In this letter, the Interior Minister added to the Pakistani Interior Minister: "Within the framework of bilateral relations and the principle of good neighborliness, as well as the security commitments between the two countries, it is necessary to conduct joint operations with urgency until results are achieved."
In recent years, armed clashes have occurred on the southeastern borders of Iran and in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan between the Jaish al-Adl group and Iranian Revolutionary Guards and border guards in this province. This group considers itself the defender of the "Sunni" in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Source: Radio Farda
