Iranian Tribal Chiefs in Pakistan to Pursue Abducted Border Guards’ Fate: MP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian lawmaker said a number of tribal chiefs of the southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan are in talks with their Pakistani counterparts to help secure the release of the Iranian border guards who were recently abducted by Takfiri terrorists near the common border.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, the representative of the southeastern city of Mirjaveh at the parliament, Ali Kord, said two or three groups of tribal leaders are negotiating with some Pakistani tribes so that the issue would end well (with the release of the abductees).
“So far, there have been a lot of follow-up efforts by the country’s (Iran’s) administration and diplomatic apparatus,” he said, adding that the summoning of the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran and the presence of the Pakistani border guards commander in Tehran are among the efforts.
The lawmaker also emphasized that there have been many talks with the Pakistani government and security officials about ways to boost security over common borders and they have made some promises in this regard but failed to live up to their commitments so far.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force said on Tuesday that a number of its troops and local Basij forces had been abducted at a border post southeast of Iran on Monday evening.
In a statement, the Ground Force’s Quds Base said a number of local Basij forces and the border regiment forces stationed at a border post in Mirjaveh region in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan were abducted on Monday evening after acts of treason and collusion involving an element or elements of the anti-Revolution groups who had infiltrated the country.
It added that the Iranian defense and security forces along the border areas have launched a manhunt to catch the outlaws, terrorists and infiltrators and are taking serious measures to free the abductees.
Later on Tuesday, Brigadier General Pakpour said members of the so-called ‘Jaish-ul-Adl’ terrorist group infiltrated the country from the Pakistani side of the border and took hostage a number of local Basij forces, border guards and two IRGC members.
He said the terrorists took the Iranian forces to the Pakistani territory.
