By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

While Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on his arrival in Islamabad Monday, told the Pakistani media and officials that the Islamic Republic of Iran will never allow its soil to be used against Pakistan, terrorists who take orders from elements who do not want to see friendly, fraternal and flourishing ties between the two Muslim neighbours, decided to stage on the same day a cross border attack in Iran’s Sistan-Balochestan Province.
Thanks, however, to the vigilance of Iranian security personnel, a bomb-rigged vehicle with two terrorists inside, was identified after it crossed into Iran from Pakistan, stopped, and in the ensuing encounter, safely blown up before it could unleash its deadly cargo at a border station of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Saravan.
Although two of the Iranian security guards suffered injuries during the foiled attack as one of the terrorists got off the vehicle and detonated the explosive belt, the incident once again brought into sharper focus the need for Pakistan to control its side of the two countries’ joint border.
Hopefully, Zarif, during his 3-day visit will succeed in convincing Pakistani officials of the dangers threatening the security of the two countries and their ties.
It is the obvious who the terrorists are and the forces or countries that support them with arms and money.
To be more precise, these terrorist elements are on the payroll of Saudi Arabia which, in addition to its blind enmity against Iran, hates to see a stable Pakistan in charge of its own affairs, and having a safe and secure border with the Islamic Republic for cross-border trade and pilgrim caravans entering and exiting in peace, without the least harassment.
This is not an accusation. It is an undeniable fact. The government of Pakistan very well understands this reality.
Unfortunately, out of courtesy for the official monetary assistance Islamabad receives from Riyadh, besides the hundreds of millions of dollars of remittances sent by Pakistani workers toiling in inhospitable conditions in the Arabian Desert, it is reluctant to stop the flow of hundreds of millions of more petrodollars into the so-called "madrasahs” that are breeding grounds for sectarian terrorism at home and abroad.
The intention is not to spoil the cordial atmosphere of the current talks in Pakistan, where Foreign Minister Khwaja Asef agreed on many points with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, who frankly told the hosts that poverty is the cause of extremism and terrorism.
In other words, poverty ought to be seriously tackled in order to exterminate extremism and terrorism, and this requires Pakistan not to bow to pressures from Riyadh and Washington against building ties with Iran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, with its rich natural resources, including natural gas, is ready help Pakistan overcome its economic problems. Zarif invited Pakistan to partake of Iran’s economic bonanza through investments in the Chabahar Port, assuring Islamabad that Tehran’s ties with New Delhi are on no account, a hindrance.
The gas pipeline is ready at the Iranian border but strangely Pakistan has been unwilling to connect it to its side. As a result it has deprived its industry of the great leap forward that could transform its economy and the greatly improve the standard of living of Pakistani Muslims, and with it the intellectual uplift to reject Wahhabism and all other brands of terrorism.
Let’s keep the fingers crossed for the right decisions from Islamabad, and of course, cooperation to root out the causes and elements of terrorism on its side of the joint border.