called a “complicated intelligence operation.”
Vague comments were made by three Iranian officials. The only hard statements they made were that Heshmatollah Attarzadeh-Niyaki was now free and back in Iran, that Iranian agents had freed him, and that the United States and Israel were behind the kidnaping.
The comments implied—but did not state outright—that Iranian agents had violated Pakistani sovereignty and operated on their own inside Pakistan. If another country tried that inside Iran, the Islamic Republic would object strongly.
The Islamic Republic touted the operation to free Attarzadeh as an amazing success for the Intelligence Ministry. Combined with the capture in February of Abdol-Malek Rigi, the Baluchi rebel leader, the Intelligence Ministry said these two operations proved it was more professional than the American CIA or the Israeli Mossad.
Attarzadeh, Iran’s commercial attaché in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, was kidnaped November 13, 2008, when gunmen blocked his car on a bridge as he was being driven to work, riddled the car with bullets, killed the Pakistani policeman serving as his guard and driver, and whisked Attarzadeh away.
In the intervening year-and-a-half, Pakistani officials have frequently claimed they were hot on the trail of the kidnapers. More recently, they admitted they had no idea who was holding Attarzadeh and had never had any communication from the group holding him.
The kidnaping has been variously attributed to the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, to Al-Qaeda, to local criminal gangs, or to militant Sunnis who hate Pakistani Shias and see Iran as supporting the Shias. But since no one has claimed publicly to be holding Attarzadeh, all that remains speculation. And Iran shed no light on that in announcing Attarzadeh’s freedom.
The springing of Attarzadeh was first announced Tuesday in Peshawar by Abbas-Ali Abdullahi, the head of Iran’s consulate in Peshawar. “He has been freed,” Abdullahi said. “It’s confirmed that he has reached Iran.” But Abdullahi said he didn’t know where Attarzadeh had been held.
A few hours later, Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi told the media that Attarzadeh had been freed “through a series of complicated intelligence operations,” which he did not further explain at all.
He said that an armed group, which he did not name, had made certain demands, which he did not specify, for the release of Attarzadeh, but that Iran refused to respond. It was the first indication that the kidnapers had communicated with anyone.
Moslehi said Iran requested the assistance of Pakistan, but that it failed to do anything. Therefore, he said, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry decided to take matters into its own hands and proceeded to spring Attarzadeh with the “complicated intelligence operations.” That implied Pakistan not only did not aid the effort to spring Attarzadeh but did not even authorize Iran to act within Pakistan, which was difficult to believe.
Moslehi boasted that the release of Attarzadeh and arrest of Rigi proved that Iran’s intelligence service outperforms those of the United States and Israel in the region. “We have a dominance over all other intelligence agencies active in the region,” Moslehi said.
At the Foreign Ministry, spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said, “Mossad and the American intelligence services supported the group that abducted the Iranian diplomat. Mossad and American intelligence are stunned by the success of this operation.”
The regime has been relentless in charging that Kurdish, Arab and Baluchi opposition to the regime would not exist if not for American, British and Israeli aid for the opposition.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit was quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency as saying the security of Iranian nationals in Pakistan was very important to the government and that Pakistan “remains committed to broad security cooperation with the Islamic Republic.” He did not claim that Pakistan had freed Attarzadeh, nor did he say that Pakistan had authorized Iranian agents to operate inside Pakistan, although his vague reference to “security cooperation” could refer to authorization for Iran to act.
Reuters quoted an unnamed senior Pakistani security official as saying that Pakistan did help in the rescue operation.
Normally, countries do not allow foreign governments to take police actions inside their sovereign territory. Pakistan has, however, worked closely with the American CIA and FBI in counter-terrorist operations and U.S. agents are believed to have joined in joint operations with the Pakistanis, although not to have operated inside Pakistan independently.
It is possible that Pakistan and Iran jointly launched an operation to free Attarzadeh. It is also possible that Pakistan authorized Iranian agents to carry out an attack on their own—if Pakistan was skeptical that an attack to free Attarzadeh would succeed without Attarzadeh being killed, it might have authorized Iranian agents to carry out such an attack so that Pakistan could not be blamed if Attarzadeh died.
All of that is mere speculation, however, in the absence of any detail from Iran or Pakistan. It is also possible that Iran paid a ransom and that Attarzadeh simply walked to freedom.
Officers of Iran’s Pasdaran have often talked about wanting to cross the Pakistani border into the disorderly Baluchestan region to pursue Baluchi rebels, but have never done so, as far as is known. An operation in the Peshawar region would be much more complicated since Peshawar is on the far side of Pakistan more than 700 miles by air from the Iranian border. It is difficult to believe that Iran either could or would do anything in the Peshawar region without both the approval and assistance of the Pakistani government.
Moslehi, however, did not assert that Pakistan had any role at all in freeing Attarzadeh. Moslehi did not even say that Pakistan gave its approval. He simply said, “Iranian intelligence agents, in a successful operation, brought home the Iranian diplomat who was abducted in Peshawar.” Furthermore, he complained of Pakistani inaction.
Moslehi was also silent on whether there were any casualties, either among the Iranian intelligence agents or among the kidnapers. He did not say where Attarzadeh was being held, leaving open the possibility that he was detained in Baluchestan and that Iranian agents made a quick cross-border raid to free him.
Mehman-Parast said, “The location were Attarzadeh was held was identified by Iranian intelligence agents.” He didn’t say what that area was. Nor did he give Pakistan any credit for locating Attarzadeh.
The kidnaping of Attarzadeh was just one of many attacks on foreigners in the Peshawar area. A senior Afghan diplomat was kidnapped shortly before Attarzadeh and remains missing. A Pakistani who worked for the Iranian consulate was shot dead last November. Two Americans have been attacked by gunmen but escaped capture.