BENGALURU: The border tension between nuclear-armed Pakistan and Iran, with at least 11 people reported being killed in the missile strikes traded between the two neighbours this week, is at the “risk of being escalated into a bigger internal and regional security threat if both the sides fail to exercise caution,” said Ayesha Siddiqa, senior research fellow at King’s College, London. “There’s a threat of this turning into an internal strife in Pakistan, which has the second largest Shia population after Iran,” she cautioned.
“Pakistan has not named Iran but has indicated that it may have orchestrated Usmani’s killing. Hence, Tehran’s missile strike inside Pakistan, targeting the base of Jaish al-Adl on Tuesday, is being seen as its second and blatant attempt of terrorism and infringing on its sovereignty,” she said, pointing out that Iran had launched missile and drone strikes on Pakistan after striking inside Iraq and Syria, and that there’s a danger of the Israel-Gaza war spreading to South Asia if not contained in time.
In Davos, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian had defended his country’s actions and stated that the Iranian forces’ strikes were “in line with combating terrorism and legitimate self-defence” after they hit the “spy headquarters” and “terrorist” bases in these three countries.
Former Indian Foreign Service officer and Indian ambassador to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal said “the border issue between Iran and Pakistan is old but the bilateral missile attack portends to be serious. Both sides need to sit and talk and contain the escalation of the border tension.”