ISLAMABAD: In a major development in Pakistan-Iran relations, Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is set to visit Tehran later this week.

He is expected to proceed on a two-day visit to Iran on Thursday, although no official announcement has been made by either side as yet.

Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost in this connection met Gen Bajwa at the GHQ on Tuesday. A statement of the ISPR said the two discussed “visits and exchanges in defence realm”.

Gen Bajwa’s upcoming trip is being attached a lot of importance because it could help the two overcome the distrust that has kept them apart. Islamabad and Tehran profess good relations and the two do not have any territorial disputes. However, they have had conflicting geo-political worldviews and resultantly remained on the opposite sides of regional alignments. This has quite often caused unease in relations.

Iranian envoy calls on Bajwa at GHQ

The key issues facing the two countries are Pakistan’s concerns about Indian role there and the role Iran plays in Afghanistan; and the Iranian worries about terrorist groups attacking its security forces allegedly from Pakistani soil. With India, last weekend, operationalising trade route with Afghanistan via Iran’s Chabahar port, Pakistan’s apprehensions stand reinforced.

Islamabad and Tehran, moreover, have differences over politics in the Middle East, but don’t allow it to dominate their bilateral agenda.

Gen Bajwa as part of GHQ’s defence diplomacy laid special emphasis on narrowing the trust gulf with Iran.

In one of his earlier meetings with Ambassador Honardoost, Gen Bajwa had told him that “enhanced Pak-Iran military-to-military cooperation will have positive impact on regional peace and stability”. This seems to be driving his approach on Iran.

The effort to improve the relationship was seriously tested by cross-border terrorist attacks, including the one in late April that had left 11 Iranian border guards dead. Pakistan, after the attack, committed to increasing border deployment for enhancing border security.

An analyst closely following Pak-Iran relations said when Gen Bajwa landed in Tehran many in Iran would be waiting to hear progress about recovery of one of the border guards — Saeed Barati — who had been kidnapped by terrorists during the April attack near Mirjaveh border.

Iran had been seeking the Pakistan government’s help for securing Barati’s release from terrorists’ custody.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2017