Speaking in Tehran on Sunday, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused American forces based in Afghanistan and Pakistan of backing the recent twin suicide bombings in Zahedan, which killed 28 people and injured hundreds others.
He said that Nato and US forces sponsor terrorists with equipment and funds to launch such attacks in his country. Meanwhile, Iran has closed the 'Zero Point' at the Taftan border, suspending all trade activities in the area. As a result, people on the Pakistan side of the border are facing serious difficulties since most food items and some other necessities of daily life are brought in from Iran via the Zero Point.
It may be recalled that Jundullah, a sectarian organisation, which claims to fight for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran, accepted responsibility for the attacks, saying among other things, those were revenge for the execution of Jundullah's founding leader, Abdulmalek Rigi, whom Iran hanged last month. Jundullah, under Rigi, was responsible for several terrorist attacks against soldiers and civilian alike in the Sistan-Balochistan province adjoining Pakistani Balochistan. It has also been engaged in kidnappings and other criminal activities.
The terrorist outfit is believed to be connected to some local Baloch insurgent groups, that have been providing it refuge. The US has an obvious interest in destabilising the Iranian regime in whichever way possible. Unsurprisingly, therefore, several reports emanating from the US media suggest a linkage between Jundullah and the US. Also, it is not without significance that despite Jundullah claiming responsibility for several bombings that caused civilian deaths, the US has not included it in its list of terrorist organisations.
So far as Pakistan is concerned, the last thing it needs in the present trying times is not to earn the hostility of a friendly neighbour like Iran. Jundullah may have a foothold in the insurgency-infested areas of Balochistan, but wherever possible, Islamabad has tried its best to help Iran. Aside from offers of joint policing of the border area, in 2008, Pakistan arrested and handed over Abdulmalek Rigi's elder brother, Abdulhamid Rigi, to Iran along with 13 other militants.
Abdulhamid was hanged in May, this year, after a protracted process of interrogations and trial. This country also played a role in the arrest of Abdulmalek himself, who was on his way from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan last February when his plane was forced down by Iranian jets. Iran, of course, is cognisant of the fact that Islamabad would not be delivering its most wanted terrorists had it not been sympathetic to its case against Jundullah. However, its decision to close the Taftan border is not a pleasant development. There, clearly, is a greater need for Islamabad to engage Tehran and allay its apprehensions regarding the Jundullah affair.
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