Iran’s President Masuud Pezeshkian’s visit to Pakistan earlier this month helped once again highlight the importance of brotherhood between the two countries to maintain security, promote economic progress, strengthen cultural ties and deepen regional cooperation.
Remember that Iran was the first country to recognize Pakistan soon after independence in 1947. It was justified that Quaid-e-azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah told Iran’s first Pakistani ambassador, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan in May 1948 that he was already the country with the most cordial relationship with Pakistan.
Historically, relationships between the two countries can be divided into four different phases. The first phase that followed when the Shah was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution until 1979 saw a pimples of highly friendly relations between the two countries, characterized by cooperation in political, economic and cultural fields and alliances with the West.
The emergence of Iranian Islamic Revolution saw the beginning of a new phase in relations between Pakistan and Iran. Bilateral relations remained close, with high-level exchanges of visits, hostility between Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Government and the United States, and Iranian-Iraq’s war and sectarian differences added complicated factors to Pakistan-Iran relations.
In the third phase, which began in the 1990s, bilateral relations between Pakistan and Iran suffered severely from the Afghan civil war, in which both countries supported the other side. Pakistan-Iran relations were also negatively affected by Pakistani sectarian terrorism, killing several Iranian authorities.
It is envisaged that about two weeks before his arrival in Tehran at the end of September 1997, the Pakistan Iranian ambassador and five IRGC cadets who were on training missions in Pakistan were charged with as five IRGC cadets murdered in an ambush in Rawalpindi. Earlier this year, Rahimi, director of Multan’s Iranian Cultural Centre, had been assassinated.
The need to ease tensions and improve relations between Pakistan and Iran was both an urgent and strategic order at the time. Fortunately, the intensity of Pakistan’s sectarian terrorism has gradually decreased. However, both Pakistan and Iran were slow to recognize the detrimental effects of their proxy war in Afghanistan on the country’s peace and bilateral relations. Thus, their half-hearted attempts to promote reconciliation between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance have failed.
The US military occupation of Afghanistan had a far-reaching influence on Pakistan-Iran relations after 9/11. Iran felt threatened by the presence of American troops in Afghanistan. In particular, after President Bush branded Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the axis of evil in 2002, Musharraf Pakistan was able to develop Modas Vivendi with the United States during US invasion and military occupation of Afghanistan, despite some policy differences. Since the 1990s, the US nuclear sanctions imposed on Iran have served as a major constraint on efforts to strengthen Pakistan and Iran’s economic and commercial cooperation in the third phase.
As a result of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, the resumption of Afghan Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and the withdrawal of US from Iran’s nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA in 2018, the 2018 JCPOA, the air strikes from Iran’s US sanctions and the air strikes from Iran’s Iran and the air strikes from Iran’s Iran and the US’s Israeli and US air attacks in June, both countries need to deal with the pivotal relationship between maturity and wisdom in order to avoid past mistakes and make the most of the potential benefits of future cooperation.
Pakistan and Iran are closely linked by their centuries-old cultural and historical connections, economic complementarity, geographical proximity and human contact. Their policymakers should not ignore the fact that the security of both countries is closely linked. For example, both suffered when they worked in Afghanistan in the 1990s for cross-sectional areas on important regional issues. Therefore, Pakistan-Iranian cooperation is an essential prerequisite for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Recent Israeli and US aviation at Iranian nuclear facilities have fundamentally changed local security scenarios. Pakistan correctly condemned these strikes. This constituted a blatant violation of the UN Charter and Iran’s legitimate rights, and was a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). We should continue to seek a peaceful resolution of the differences between Iran and Western countries on the nuclear issue, while supporting Iran’s right to develop nuclear programs for peaceful purposes in accordance with the NPT’s provisions.
Our friendship with the United States should not be at the expense of our friendly relations between Pakistan’s important brother Muslim country and its neighbor, Iran. Therefore, we should build friendly relations with Iran and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, with an overall interest in mind. Beyond declarative statements, innovative and practical methods need to be developed to increase trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Iran and bypass US economic sanctions. This applies especially to gas pipeline projects in Iran and Pakistan. This is in mutual interest in both countries.
Hopefully, the two countries will take the necessary steps to increase annual bilateral trade from the current $2.8 billion to $10 billion in a short time, as repeated by both sides during President Peshshkian’s visit to Pakistan. To this end, and to strengthen mutual security, the two countries must strengthen bilateral cooperation in combating terrorism in the border regions, as agreed during the visit of the Iranian president. Both countries should take effective measures to end BLA and Jaish-Al-Adl terrorist activities.
The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) consisting of Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, the Republic of Central Asia and Azerbaijan offers an attractive pathway to foster regional trade, economic cooperation and connectivity among member states. Both Pakistan and Iran, together with other member states, must stimulate efforts to make the most of the potential of the regional organisation. Both Pakistan and Iran could also extend the CPEC to Iran to increase its effectiveness and utility.
Pakistan and Iran’s national interests are complementary and competitive. They should not turn competition in Afghanistan or regional trade into conflict while making the most of all the means of mutually beneficial cooperation. Instead, they must manage it within mutual tolerance and in accordance with the principles of mutual accommodation.
Finally, it is always important to keep in mind that in conflict with India, Iranian friendship and support is of paramount importance to Pakistan. India has sometimes highlighted its strategic goal of weakening friendship between Pakistan and Iran in its secret conversations. India should not be allowed to succeed with its malicious designs. Luckily we may be happy to have a partner in Iran. This is disciplined by India’s refusal to condemn Israel’s air attacks at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
(Courtesy of www.thenews.com.pk)