Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan agreed on Monday to set up a joint border “reaction force” to counter terrorism.
“We agreed to create a joint rapid reaction force at the borders for combating terrorism,” Rouhani said.
Addressing a joint press conference with Rouhani, Khan, who is on his maiden official two-day visit to Iran, said Pakistan has resolved not to allow any militant group to operate from its soil.
“We have been facing [impact] of terrorism since long.In Pakistan, we have suffered more terrorism than probably any other country. In the past [few years] we have lost around 70,000 people. Full appreciation must be made for our security agencies, with the way they tackled terrorism in Pakistan,” Khan said.
“We are committed to not let it happen again. We will not allow any militant group to operate from our soil. We will not allow our soil to be used by anyone against anyone”, he said.
He added that he feels the issue of terrorism was going to increase differences between Pakistan and Iran which made it important to be resolved.
The two leaders held talks at the Saadabad presidential palace in Tehran earlier today and discussed bilateral relations, regional issues and ways and means to further bolster their relations in diverse fields.
The issue has stemmed from the cross border infiltrations between the two countries.
However, there is significant border crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan by insurgents which is yet to be checked. Not only has this issue been untouched and denied importance, Pakistan has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the issue as a problem.
