S Jaishankar in Iran meets chairman of security council Ali Akbar Ahmadian
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, January 17: A day after External Affairs Minister Subharamanyam Jaishankar wrapped up his Tehran visit with security issue on top of the agenda, Iran rained missiles with drones in Pakistan to reportedly eliminate bases of militant outfit Jaish al-Adl. While there are no official words from Iran on the target of the surgical strikes in Balochistan, security experts are wildly speculating the reasons for Tehran targeting Pakistan.
The immediate cause appears to be the Kerman attack which had left over 100 people killed in Iran. The Islamic nation had accused the Afghanistan-based terror outfit linked to the ISISI for the Kerman attack. But Iran carried out the surgical strikes inside Pakistan against on camps of Jaish al-Adl in the Panjgur region of Balochistan. Security analysts claim that this outfit split from Jundallah. They claim that it’s a Sunni separatist group, and its camps are located in Harnai areas of Balochistan. Iran shares a long border with Balochistan in Pakistan.
Within a section of the security analysts, it’s being said that Jundallah is allegedly linked with Pakistan’s ISI. In some quarters, it’s also suggested that Jundallah had kidnapped Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav who had reportedly been working in Iran. Jadhav is in Pakistani jail.
Also, Jaishankar’s Iran visit was preceded by a telephone call to him by the US Secretary of the State Antony Blinken. It was also suggested in some quarters that the US shared intelligence with India on the drone attacks on MV Chem Pluto. Jaishankar had raised the issue of the drone attack on the ship with his Iranian hosts.
The Iranian surgical strikes in Pakistan raised the scope of the Middle East tension expanding in its scope. Iran had launched missiles inside Iraq and Syria. With Pakistan being an ally of the US, the Iranian surgical strikes inside Balochistan are being seen as signs of Tehran broadening the war theatre by taking it beyond the Middle East.
Pakistan confirmed the drone attacks inside the country. Pakistan summoned the Iranian diplomats in Islamabad to protest against the drone attacks. Pakistan has said that the attacks were illegal and Iran violated its airspace. Ironically, the surgical strikes also came on a day when the leadership of Iran and Pakistan met in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
It has also been reported that the Pakistan air force could not intercept the Iranian drone attacks even while scrambling multiple JF-17s from its Samungli air base. These surgical strikes came in the wake of the US and India also carrying out similar actions against Osama bin Laden and terror bases in Balakot respectively.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry in a statement said: “The violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable. It can have serious consequences.” Sushant Sareen, a security analyst, however, said that Pakistan may not immediately react but speculated that terror outfits such as Jaish may be pressed in action.
Jaishankar had raised the issue of the drone attacks on a ship in the vicinity of the Indian coastline. He had stressed that it has ramifications for India’s energy security. He had also met secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian.
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