LAHORE (The News) - The rising terrorist activities of the Pakistan-based militant organization, Jundullah threatens not only the Pakistan-Iran diplomatic ties but also the future of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, which was signed on May 22 by President Asif Zardari and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.
According to well-placed diplomatic sources in Islamabad, Tehran has lodged a strong protest with Islamabad over the failure of its law enforcement agencies to dismantle the Jundullah network in Pakistan, which has claimed responsibility for the May 28 deadly suicide attack inside the Ali ibn Abi Talib mosque in Zahedan that killed 25 people and wounded 125 others.
The sources said Iranian officials had expressed their deep concern over the failure of the Pakistani authorities to proceed against the Jundullah network in Pakistan despite having been given specific intelligence.
The Pakistani ambassador was told that the Zahedan suicide attack could have been averted had Islamabad acted in time on the Iranian intelligence information. The Iranian authorities had reportedly told the Pakistani ambassador that the three terrorists (Haji Noti Zehi, Gholam Rasoul Shahi Zehi and Zabihollah Naroui), hanged publicly on May 30 in Zahedan for their alleged participation in the mosque bombing, had confessed to illegally bringing explosives from Pakistan into Iran and giving them to the main person behind the suicide attack.
Diplomatic circles in Islamabad say Tehran’s concern over the growing terrorist activities of Jundullah, across the border in Iran, could be gauged from the fact that its Ambassador to Pakistan, Mashallah Shakeri, had addressed an unusual press conference in Islamabad on March 20, accusing Pakistan of allowing its soil to be used against Iran and demanding concrete steps to contain its activities.
While claiming that the Jundullah network was located inside the Balochistan province, Shakeri had asked Islamabad to curb its anti-Iran activities by taking a decisive action against its leadership. The Iranian ambassador had given broad hints at that time that an Iranian diplomat, who had disappeared in Peshawar in 2008, could also have been kidnapped by Jundullah. In his reaction the same day, a Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman had stated that Islamabad was determined that the Pakistani soil would not be allowed to be used by Jundullah in any manner to destabilize the Iranian government.
However, the diplomatic circles in Islamabad say the Iranian authorities had warned the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran on May 30 that Islamabad’s failure to act against the Jundullah network in Balochistan could also jeopardize the future of the recently-signed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project. They pointed out that the Pakistani and the Iranian presidents had only signed the initial agreement after 14 years of delayed negotiations and the most crucial gas sales and purchase agreement had not yet been finalized.
On the other hand, the Pakistani authorities in Islamabad do not rule out the possibility of a third player aiding and abetting the anti-Iran activities of Jundullah with a view to damage the Pakistan-Iran ties and sabotage the “peace pipeline project”.
Asked about the origin of Jundullah, the sources said the organization ostensibly represents the Baloch inside Iran who are disaffected with the Tehran government. While being interrogated at a Quetta jail, the sources said, Abdul Hamid Rigi, the brother of the Jundullah chief, had maintained that the group was formed to protect the rights of the Baloch in the Iranian Balochistan-Sistan region.
While asserting that the Pakistani authorities are making all possible efforts to dismantle the Jundullah network from Balochistan’s soil, authoritative sources in the Ministry of Interior pointed out that the militant organization in question had actually stepped up its anti-Iran activities following the June 15, 2008 extradition of Abdul Hamid Rigi from Pakistan to Iran.
Highlighting Pakistan’s efforts to recover the Iranian diplomat kidnapped from Peshawar, the Interior Ministry sources said the Karachi Police had raided a Karachi locality in February 2008 to retrieve the Iranian diplomat alive. In the ensuing battle, two policemen died while 35 men belonging to at least two banned outfits, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan, were arrested. Yet the Iranian diplomat could not be recovered.
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