Pakistan accuses Iran of cross-border attacks

 On Wednesday, the People’s Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan held their first trilateral counterterrorism and regional security consultations in Beijing, the capital of China, but Pakistan accused Iran of providing safe havens to insurgents for orchestrating cross-border attacks in an attempt to derail the CPEC (China–Pakistan Economic Corridor). 

However, Iran accused Pakistan of failing to do enough to prevent terrorists from conducting cross-border terrorism in Iran, according to the Voice of America (VOA).

Baluch insurgents said that CPEC helped increase Pakistan’s efforts to deprive the local population of the natural resources of the region. 

A post-meeting statement in Islamabad read, “The delegations held detailed discussions on the regional security situation, particularly the threat of terrorism faced by the region.” Senior Chinese, Pakistani, and Iranian counterterrorism officials also attended the meeting. 

According to the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, the three countries have agreed to hold the meeting regularly. 

Pakistan claimed that rebels used safe havens on Iranian soil to plan cross-border operations in order to derail CPEC, an extension of China's worldwide Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the Iranian government has repeatedly denied the presence of Baluch militants in its country.

Reportedly, China and Pakistan have denied all the allegations, claiming that the megadevelopment project is providing economic prosperity to the impoverished province and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as a whole.

Iran claimed that Pakistan is not doing enough to prevent extremists from carrying out cross-border attacks in the country, which Pakistani officials deny.

In 2022, Iran said it wanted to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), made up of China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, also attended the SCO summit in Uzbekistan. Iran is one of four SCO observer states.