Iran-Pakistan Defence/Security Cooperation Essential
By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
The recent trip of Iran’s topmost military general to Pakistan and fruitful talks with the host country’s senior government officials and his counterpart on issues of mutual concern, especially the joint campaign against terrorism, was a triumph of defence and diplomacy.
Tehran and Islamabad have much to gain and nothing to lose through cooperation as emphasized during talks between Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, and Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, Asim Munir.
The focus was on the coming naval maneuvers and the plan to start joint production in the manufacture of weapons.
It augurs well for both the neighbours in view of the abundance of highly skilled experts in this field capable of producing sophisticated armaments of defence, and of course, offence to counter the evil designs of common enemies.
It is no longer a secret that the main backers of the criminal outfits indulging in cross border terrorism in the two countries are the US and the illegal Zionist entity.
We know that Islamabad has diplomatic ties with Washington, but this does not mean the US is a friend of Pakistan and hates the idea of the political and economic independence of this major south Asian Muslim country, as is evident by American scheming to prevent the flow of Iranian natural gas.
Once the gas pipeline starts work Pakistan will definitely witness an economic/industrial bonanza, and the government will not be under the monetary pressures of the American-controlled international banking system.
It ought to be a pipeline of peace and stability, if India also joins it to meet its own growing eco-industrial needs.
The region needs cooperation and not confrontation. Iran-Pakistan ties are not against any country as was stressed by General Baqeri on the need for efforts to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan, with which both countries share long common borders.
These borders ought to be frontiers of friendship and an axis for expansion of extensive economic relations between the three countries.
To sum up, in view of the US-Zionist plots against the Islamic Ummah as is evident by the genocide in Gaza and the bid to expand it to the West Bank, Iran and Pakistan as two powerful Muslim neighbours should spare no efforts to upgrade defence and military potential, since peace, security, and stability are vital issues.