Despite China’s request to Pakistan to exercise restraint in response to an unprovoked missile attack on Panjgur, Balochistan, ‘restraint’ could not have been an option for this South Asian nation in view of two broad reasons.
Firstly, Tehran’s decision to carry out missile strikes inside Pakistan’s territory constituted not just violation of a sovereign country’s territorial integrity but also an outright betrayal from the latter’s perspective in view of the fact that the navies of both the neighboring Islamic countries had concluded their joint exercise near the Strait of Hormuz hardly a couple of days ago.
Through that missile strike, Iran had sought, albeit unsuccessfully, to place Pakistan in the league of the seemingly vulnerable war-torn states such as Iraq and Syria. Under no circumstances can Pakistan be treated as another Iraq or Syria.
India, Pakistan’s principal adversary, appreciates this fact too well. Downing of two warplanes and the arrest of one pilot under the full global media glare following the so-called 2019 Balakot strike by India had clearly explained Pakistan’s ability and capacity to strike back, although no targets of consequences were hit. Secondly, Iran’s missile strike had coincided with the visit of India’s foreign minister to the Islamic republic.
Was it a mere interesting coincidence or an effort aimed at pleasing world’s largest growing economy in order to bring back to life the stalled Chabahar project? It can be safely deduced that Iran had acted imprudently, unfairly and unjustly against Pakistan, adding to its own isolation in the region and beyond.
Regardless of the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear state, not even a non-nuclear country can accept the breach of its territorial integrity through any unprovoked foreign aggression.
Iraq is a strong case in point. Not only has this Arab country downgraded its diplomatic relations with Iran, it has also decided to move the United Nations to protest against the latter’s belligerence.
Abu Adnan (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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