Pakistan’s recall of its own ambassador to Tehran and expulsion of Iran’s to Islamabad indicates how seriously it is taking the matter of Tuesday’s Iranian missile strike on an alleged separatist base in Balochistan. More than Pakistan’s reaction, the seriousness of the matter can be seen from China’s getting involved, which it does not do lightly between states. However, apart from being neighbours, Pakistan and Iran are also members of the international community. Both are friends of China, albeit for different reasons. Iran has innumerable differences with the USA, which is engaged in a worldwide clash with China, and thus the two countries see a commonality of interests. China and Pakistan both have a common enemy, India, and the result is a friendship cemented by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. It should be noted that Balochistan has Gwadar port, which is important to both China and Iran. China’s call for both countries to show restraint thus is logical for it.
However, that might be easy enough for China to say, but Pakistan has to deal with the attack on its sovereignty. That must not be so easily overlooked. It is also not the simple police action Iran wished to palm it off as. There are too many holes in the Iranian narrative, including why it accidentally let loose missiles across the border meant to attack a Jaishul Adl camp in Sistan. That is just one indicator that Iran’s security agencies are not on the same page as the government, leading to the latter facing serious diplomatic difficulties, including what amounts almost to a breaking of diplomatic ties. All that is left is to close embassies.
China is showing a certain disingenuousness, for Pakistan’s anger is not because of a single incident, massive though it is. Last January in Panjgur, and in April in Kech, separatist terrorists operating out of Iran engaged in hostilities against Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies. RAW operative Kulbhushan Yadav crossed into Pakistan from Iran; he must have been facilitated by someone. Baloch Liberation Army and Baloch Liberation Front camps operate on Iranian soil; is the Iranian government unaware? All of this can no longer be ignored by Pakistan. The two countries share a myriad of common bonds, but while that may act to tide over the difficult period the relationship has entered, it should not be used as an excuse for bad behaviour.
