February 21-2014
Iran’s interior minister has threatened that Iran will invade Pakistan to capture the kidnapers of five Iranian border guards and free their hostages.
The threat was only the latest in a weeklong frenzy of angry rhetoric aimed at Pakistan.
The invasion threat was made Monday by Interior Minister Abdol-Reza Rahmani-Fazli, who won overwhelming support in the Majlis last August when he was confirmed with more than 90 percent of the votes cast.
But in the 24 hours after Fazli issued his threat, no other Iranian official echoed it. However, no one denied Iran might launch an invasion.
Since the five border guards were captured February 6, the Islamic Republic has devoted most of its efforts to blaming Pakistan and has not accepted that the purpose of the Border Guard police force is to prevent people from penetrating the border into Iran. Instead, the Islamic Republic has asserted that Pakistan is responsible for preventing people from approaching the border, a unique view of border security.
The regime appears to fear the Iranian public will blame the regime for the fact that five armed border guards were captured uninjured by a Baluchi rebel group. News reports say the guards were stationed about five kilometers (three miles) inside Iran when they were surprised and captured without a fight.
Pakistan replied that it couldn’t find any trace of the men being brought into Pakistan and suggested that Iran ought to devote some time to looking for them inside Iran.
The Baluchi rebel group Jaish ul-Adl (Army of Justice) has published a video of the captives to prove it really holds the men. The video shows First Sgt. Jamshid Danaifar sitting in the middle of the five men, saying they are in good health and urging the Islamic Republic to listen to the rebels’ demands in order to free them.
The rebel group has said the five are being held hostage and has demanded that Iran free 50 of its members detained in Iranian prisons, 200 other Baluchis imprisoned by Iran and 50 Sunni women it said the Pasdaran are holding in Syria. The demand for the release of Syrian women appears to be an effort to gain the attention of the Arab world, which normally pays no attention to Baluchi rebels.
The Baluchi people are divided primarily between Iran and Pakistan with small numbers in Afghanistan. Baluchi rebel groups in Iran and Pakistan demand independence or autonomy. The rebels in one country often cross the border to take sanctuary in the Baluchi zone of another country after carrying out terrorist actions.
It is widely assumed that Jaish ul-Adl took the five captives into Pakistani Baluchestan.
Pakistan has said it has been searching Pakistani Baluchestan but has found no trace of the rebels or their captives in the mountainous and sparsely populated region along the Iranian border. In fact, it said it doubted they had been brought into Pakistan. “Pakistan has already informed the Iranian authorities that its Frontier Corps teams have intensively combed the entire region, but could not verify the entry or presence of these Iranian border guards on its territory. It is therefore possible that the miscreants along with the abducted border guards are still hiding within the Iranian territory.”
As for the threat of invasion, Pakistan responded swiftly, but avoided heated rhetoric, indicating it did not take the threat seriously. “Iranian forces have no authority to cross our borders in violation of the international law,” a Pakistani government statement said Tuesday. “We must respect each other’s borders.”
The statement also rejected Iran’s assertions that Pakistan was responsible for stopping the seizure of the hostages inside Iran. “The government of Pakistan rejects the suggestions of negligence on its part over the incident, especially when Pakistan’s active support against terrorist groups in the past is well-known and acknowledged by Iran.”
Interior Minister Fazli refused to acknowledge that he and his ministry have the responsibility for order on the Iranian side of the border. Instead, he said, “Pakistan and Afghanistan have no control over their border areas and this has given thugs and smugglers free run.” Of the latest kidnaping, he said, “We totally hold Pakistan responsible and that country must be answerable.”
He said, “If Pakistan doesn’t take the needed steps to fight against these terrorist groups, we will send our forces into Pakistan…. We do consider it our right to intervene and create a new security sphere for our safety.”
This was a stunning claim of authority that made a mockery of the Islamic Republic’s assertions of support for international law.
Other Iranian officials have avoided Fazli’s invasion threat, but still lay the blame on Pakistan.
For example, Major General Hossain Hassani-Saadi, the deputy chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said, “We will have no soft stand in this matter and our neighboring country should account for its lack of action.”
Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, the chief of the national police, said, “Pakistan is responsible for the abduction.”
The Foreign Ministry summoned the Pakistani ambassador to hear of Iran’s “displeasure and official protest” over the kidnaping.
Everything from the government is aimed at avoiding responsibility for what happened.
The Islamic Republic regularly assured the public it would free the hostages, but was silent on the means—apart from the rhetoric demanding Pakistani action or threatening an invasion. However, Majlis Deputy Hossain Naghavi-Hossaini said Iran might negotiate with the kidnapers through a third party. No executive branch official was heard to say anything like that. The government prefers to thump its chest publicly and refuse to negotiate with rebels. But in at least one case, the Islamic Republic freed some prisoners to win the release of a diplomat kidnaped in Pakistan. So, it is at least half-pregnant on the matter of negotiating with terror groups.
The hostage-taking came about just days before Pakistani Taliban forces, operating in the Pushtun area of Pakistan to the east of Baluchestan, announced they had murdered 23 Pakistani troops taken captive in 2010 in revenge for what the Taliban called “extra-judicial killing of its detained activists.” That bloodshed has drawn far more attention and concern in Pakistan than the issue of the Iranian border guards.
In Pakistani Baluchestan, two local government officials were kidnaped last Thursday when unknown persons stopped their car and took them captive. The two officials were said to be returning from a meeting held at the border with Iran, but it wasn’t said if they had met with Iranian officials.
The United States just ignored Fazli’s remarks and did not bother to publicize it by condemning Iran and embarrassing the regime by giving global attention to Fazli’s threat.
Jaish ul-Adl has made a half dozen attacks inside Iran since it started operating in December 2012. The latest may have come Saturday when gunmen fired shots at Abdol-Majid Jahangiri, the Friday prayers leader in Bazman, a town in southern Sistan va Baluchestan province. He emerged unscathed. No one has yet claimed responsibility.
Inside Pakistan, Baluchi rebels have specialized in two main kinds of action. Every several weeks, they attack and blow up a section of some gas pipeline crossing Baluchestan. And they frequently attack buses carrying Pakistani Shias to or from pilgrimage sites in Iran, chiefly Mashhad. Last week, after another bus bombing, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced it is starting two flights a week between Lahore and Mashhad with a stopover in Quetta. PIA had halted flights on that route 10 years ago.
