{"id":48969,"date":"2024-01-17T11:17:15","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T11:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/china-urges-iran-pakistan-to-exercise-restraint-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-17T11:17:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T11:17:15","slug":"china-urges-iran-pakistan-to-exercise-restraint-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/china-urges-iran-pakistan-to-exercise-restraint-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"China urges Iran, Pakistan to ‘exercise restraint’ | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nBEIJING:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

China urged Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday to show “restraint”, after Islamabad said Tehran had carried out an air strike on its territory that killed two children.<\/p>\n

“We call on both sides to exercise restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.<\/p>\n

“We consider both Iran and Pakistan as close neighbours and major Islamic countries,” she said. Both Iran and Pakistan are close partners of Beijing and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.<\/p>\n

Pakistan denounced the strike, near the nations’ shared border late on Tuesday, as “completely unacceptable”, saying it was unprovoked.<\/p>\n

Iran offered no immediate official comment but its state-run Nour News agency said the attack destroyed the Pakistan headquarters of the militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice). Formed in 2012, Jaish al-Adl is blacklisted by Iran as a terrorist group and has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years.<\/p>\n

The strike came after Iran launched missile attacks<\/a>\u00a0on “spy headquarters” and “terrorist” targets in Syria, and in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.<\/p>\n

The Iranian strikes add to multiple crises across the Middle East, with Israel waging a war against Hamas in Gaza and pro-Palestinian Huthi rebels in Yemen attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

The drone strikes<\/strong><\/p>\n

A day earlier,\u00a0an Iranian drone and missile strike<\/a>\u00a0on targets, which Tehran described as bases for the militant group Jaish al-Adl, in the Panjgur district of Balochistan killed two \u201cinnocent children\u201d and wounded three girls, Iranian state media and Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad said.<\/p>\n

Read <\/strong>Iran: US can’t call for restraint while backing Israel’s war in Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n

Pakistan condemned the attack, describing it an \u201cunprovoked violation\u201d of the Pakistani airspace, and warned Tehran of serious consequences. The FO said in a late-night statement that the violation of Pakistan\u2019s sovereignty was completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Two bases of Jaish al Adl in Pakistan were targeted by missiles on Tuesday, Iranian state media reported, a day after Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards missiles strikes hit an \u201cIsraeli spy centre\u201d in Iraq and targeted Islamic State militants in Syria.<\/p>\n

“These bases were hit and destroyed by missiles and drones,” media reports in Tehran said. Iran’s Nournews, affiliated with the country’s top security body, said the attacked bases were located in the Balochistan province.<\/p>\n

However, Pakistan contested Iran\u2019s claims that the strikes destroyed \u201cterrorist hideouts\u201d and strongly protested with the neighbouring country. \u201cThis violation of Pakistan\u2019s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences,\u201d the FO statement said.<\/p>\n

Jaish-al-Adl is a militant group established in 2012 and had been operating from Iran\u2019s Sistan-Balochistan province. Tehran alleges that the group also has hideouts across the border in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

The group since its inception took responsibility of several attacks against Iran\u2019s security forces.<\/p>\n

Read more\u00a0<\/strong>Pak, Iran to hold talks on Afghan situation today<\/a><\/p>\n

In February 2019, the group killed 27 security personnel, prompting Iranian civil and military leadership to issue stern warnings to Pakistan.<\/p>\n

However, Tuesday\u2019s strike came as major surprise because Tehran opted for this option despite existence of channels of communication between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Also, the strikes were launched the day Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar met with the Iranian foreign minister on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The Iranian president\u2019s point man for Afghanistan was also in Islamabad, recently.<\/p>\n

Soon after the attack, Pakistan\u2019s strong protest was lodged with the concerned senior official in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, while Iran\u2019s charge d\u2019affaires was summoned by the foreign ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, the Iranian charge d\u2019affaires has been called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey our strongest condemnation of this blatant violation of Pakistan\u2019s sovereignty and that the responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,\u201d the FO maintained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran,\u201d the FO said. \u201cSuch unilateral acts are not in conformity with good neighbourly relations and can seriously undermine bilateral trust and confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement reiterated that Pakistan had always said that terrorism was a common threat to all countries in the region that required coordinated action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n