Iran-Pakistan Relations within the Framework of Regional Competition

Iran-Pakistan Relations within the Framework of Regional Competition

The inauguration of the Trump administration in January 2017 has begun to affect geopolitics of Middle East.  Unlike his predecessor, Obama, who advised the regional countries to reconcile with Iran, President Trump believes that Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, have hands in every problem in the region. In order to contain Iranian threat in Trump administration has tended to improve partnership with conventional American allies in the region. These developments have energized the Saudi Arabian campaign against Iran. Recently, Prince Mohammed B. Salman, then Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister stated in a TV interview on May 2: "We are a primary target for the Iranian regime. We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we’ll work so that the battle is for them in Iran.” He argued that there is no room for dialogue with the Iranian regime. Iran heavily reacted to the statement of Prince Salman. Iranian Defense Minister Hussein Dehqan threatened Saudi Arabia: "If they do something stupid, we will leave nowhere untouched apart from Mecca and Medina."

The growing tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia has affected not only the Mashreq and the Persian Gulf, but also the 'wider Middle East.' Pakistan is one of the countries that are highly vulnerable to these effects. Bordering with Iran, Pakistan used to have close relations with Saudi Arabia for long years. But the growing tension between Tehran and Riyadh forces the Pakistani government to face tough choices. On the one hand it tries to develop good relations with Iran for economic concerns, on the other hand it is concerned with antagonizing Saudi Arabia by getting closes to Tehran. In this context, recently there have been two eye-catching developments in Iran-Pakistan relations. First one is the escalation of clashes between the regime opponents and security forces in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan, adjacent to the Iran-Pakistan border. Secondly, former Pakistani Chief of General Staff Raheel Sharif's has taken the command of the Islamic Military Alliance Against Terrorism, which is established under the leadership of Saudi Arabia.

The Baluchistan Question

Despite having considerable mineral reserves, Sistan and Baluchistan province, located on the border of Pakistan and on the southeast of Iran, is one of the least developed regions of the country. These regions is considered as challenging in terms of security since it is regarded as functional route for smuggling, drug trafficking, human trafficking coming through Afghanistan and Pakistan. Additionally, the majority of people living in the region is Baluchi. There are some reactions against the Iranian government among the Baluchis, who are numbering around two million, speaking the Baluchi language, and mostly Sunnis in terms of denomination.  Moreover, there is a considerable Baluch population living next to the Iranian border in Pakistan. This fact makes the Iranian government more anxious with regard to this region. After 2003, the region has witnessed the rise of Militant Salafi movements that have carried out armed attacks targeting Iranian security forces and officials. The most known among these movements is the Jundallah organization led by Abdolmalek Rigi. It is claimed that, over the past decade, Iran has lost around three thousand guards in the armed clashes that took place in the region for different reasons.

The Baluchistan question constitutes one of the important subjects in the Iran-Pakistan relations. Iranian officials repeatedly blamed Pakistan, who is dealing with its own "Baluch question", for allowing activities of organizations fighting against Iran. It is known that Pakistan helped Iran in February 2010 to arrest Jundallah's leader Rigi, who was executed later. The execution of Rigi, led to the dissolution of Jundallah, which led to the emergence of new militant organizations. One of these new organizations is called Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) under the leadership of Abdolrahim Mollazadeh, whose alias is Salahuddin al Farooqui. Having an anti-Shia position, Jaish al-Adl claims to fight against "Rafidas" and the "Safavid regime". This organization that has been settled in Pakistan territories has been targeting Iranian border guards since 2013.

Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack that killed ten border guards patrolling Iran-Pakistan border in the Mirjaveh region, on 26 April 2017. The assailants fired at soldiers with long barreled guns at the zero point of border and fled into Pakistan soils after the incident. This attack led Iranian reaction against Pakistan for it did not "fight effectively against terrorist groups and armed bandits in its territory," and that it did not take necessary measures on border security. Shortly after the attack, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani penned a letter addressing Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in which he asked that perpetrators of the attack to be arrested and handed over to Iran. Soon after then, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Islamabad on 3 May, met with Pakistani senior officials and asked for increased security measures at the border. Pakistani authorities assured Zarif that the necessary measures, including the deployment of additional troops in the region, would be taken.

Despite the assurances of Islamabad, Iranian military officials continued to make statements targeting Pakistan. In his speech on May 8, M. Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces argued; "Unfortunately, Iran's eastern border regions with Pakistan have become a safe haven for training and equipping terrorists recruited by Saudi Arabia and supported by the United States." He asked Pakistani officials to control the borders, arrest the terrorists and shut down their bases. “If the terrorist attacks continue, we will hit their safe havens and cells, wherever they are!” he said.

Sharif’s Command of the ‘Islamic Military Alliance’

Armed attacks on Iran originated from Pakistan territories are partly responsible for the rise of tension between Islamabad and Tehran. Another reason for the tension is the improvement of military and security cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. As a matter of fact, Iranian officials have been accusing Saudi Arabia for provoking minorities and supporting armed groups against the Iranian government.  Additionally, it is also claimed that the Saudis have organized and supported the Baluch rebels, while the Pakistan government has glossed over it. Hence, Pakistan's growing security partnership with Saudi Arabia may be considered as the root cause of heavy Iranian reactions against Pakistan.

Military cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia dates back to the 1980s. Thousands of Pakistani officers have already provided "consultation" services to Saudi Arabia. As an extension of the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia cooperation, former Pakistani military members were recruited into Bahrain security forces to suppress the upheavals in Bahrain in April 2011. Today, nearly thirty percent of the Bahrain security forces are reportedly consisted of Pakistanis. Nonetheless, the alliance between two countries was shadowed in 2015. Saudi Arabia that militarily intervened in Yemen in March 2015 in response to Houthi takeover, asked Pakistan to support the Saudi military coalition through providing warplanes, warships and troops. Pakistan, which at that time tried to develop its relations with Iran and fought against militant organizations within its country, remained neutral on the Yemen issue and did not provide any military support to Riyadh. However, the Pakistani government declared that it would take side with Saudi Arabia in case of a direct threat to its security. It is claimed that the absence of Pakistan is responsible for the weakness of the coalition.

Although Saudi Arabia did not receive any support from Pakistan in the Yemen war; it pressured over the Pakistani government to participate in the Islamic Military Alliance against Terrorism established in December 2015. Finally, it is announced in January 2017 that Pakistan's former Chief of General Staff Raheel Sharif was appointed as the commander of the 41-member alliance headquartered in Riyadh. Following the approval of Pakistani authorities in early April, Sharif moved to Riyadh. Iran, excluded from the Islamic Alliance, has been disturbed by this appointment. While talking to the Pakistani press on April 4 Mehdi Honardost, Iranian ambassador to Islamabad said, "this issue needs an explanation." Having noted that the Pakistani government informed Iranian authorities before giving an approval to Shariff's appointment, "this does not mean that Iran accepted this decision," Honadost stated. Pakistani officials have tried to ease Tehran by arguing that General Sharif’s appointment does not carry hostile intentions against Iran. “The Islamic alliance is against terrorism, not any country,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Tehmina Janjua stated by emphasizing that Pakistan will not go against Iran’s interests. Defense Minister M. Asif also underlined that Pakistan's role in alliance will be within the Saudi borders and will not take a role in Yemen.

It is difficult to say that Iran and Pakistan are enjoying good relations in general, as the Iranian Ambassador Honardoost acknowledged. However, both Pakistan and Iran want to develop bilateral relations due to some economic and strategic interests, and in the last couple of years they have taken remarkable steps in this respect. Mutual high-level have taken place between the two countries, which addressed issues such as promoting the trade volume to five billion dollars within five years, completing Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and making it operative, and the involvement of Iran in “China-Pakistan economic corridor.” Nevertheless, both the increasing armed attacks on the Iran-Pakistan border, and the rising tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia make Pakistan to face with difficult choices.

Bayram Sinkaya

Translation of 'Bölgesel Rekabet ve İran-Pakistan İlişkileri,' Ortadoğu Analiz, cilt 9, sayı 80 (Mayıs-Haziran 2017), http://orsam.org.tr/files/OA/80/15_bayramsinkaya.pdf