Iran is the closest friend and neighbour of Pakistan and the first country in the world that accorded recognition to Pakistan first. For that reasons, besides other factors, Pakistan has very close relations with Iran.

Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan’s visit to Iran came amidst a high-tension period where the countries had a prior meeting inexplicably called off and both suffered a spate of terrorist attacks.

Prime Minister Imran Khan in a joint press conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday has said that the purpose of his maiden visit to the country was a discussion on terrorism-related issues. Imran Khan, while reiterating Pakistan’s resolve to fight extremism from within the country, said that the country had suffered more than anyone else and it had been categorically decided that no group would be allowed to use the territory of Pakistan against any other country.

“We have been facing [the impact] of terrorism since long. In Pakistan, we have suffered more terrorism than probably any other country. In the past [few years] we have lost around 70,000 lives. Full appreciation must be made for our security agencies, with the way they tackled terrorism in Pakistan,” the premier said.

In a press conference, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tendered that terrorists will not be given permission to operate on Pakistani soil. This is reassuring but it is also something neither government has supposedly sanctioned before.

Statement in the joint press conference should be seen as a change in policy discourse on part of Pakistan that it has become absolutely essential for broader interest of both the sides that such issues must be resolved without further ado. Otherwise, it creates a wedge which is then used by the third country to achieve its strategic objectives via proxy war.

Pakistan and Iran have a long history of maintaining brotherly and neighbourly relationship. Both have unique traditions of accommodating each other’s interests at the most trying times of their bilateral relationship.
No doubt, the past few decades have met with some muddles which could always be addressed through a rational approach at bilateral level with complete sincerity and clarity. The visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan will surely remove these speculative misunderstandings on both sides.

Pak-Iran ties are mutually beneficial for both states, as they have suffered many ups and downs in the economic and political course of history, along with the menace of terrorism,

The people of the Iranian province Sistan and Pakistan’s Balochistan share a common ground on many fronts, such as religion, school of thought, language, and culture.

In past, both countries had already signed several trade covenants but unfortunately they were not implemented in a true sense.
It indicated that Pakistan-Iran relations had improved markedly as Tehran responded more positively in defending the legitimate interests of Pakistan and the Iranian soil is not being used against Pakistan.

On contrary, in any case, tension between Iran and Pakistan is not in our mutual interest and there should peace and security on the entire border as was the case in the past where people of the border regions were allowed free movement on both side and there were no complaints.
Both Countries should improve border security by using the prevailing goodwill of the locals and taking the Iranian border security forces into confidence.

It is true that both Iran and Pakistan are undergoing a rough patch as far as the economy is concerned that there are multiple avenues for bilateral trade.

It is in the interest of both Pakistan and Iran to observe maximum restraint in dealing with international relations. Pakistan should ignore what happened in past.

Iran can be the more reliable partner in development of this part of Balochistan. The past Governments in Pakistan did not respond positively about the massive financial and technical help to building the basic infrastructure in Pakistani part of Balochistan and consequently the Iranian Government dropped the idea to help Balochistan, mainly areas close to its borders.