ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have found the current location of five Iranian border guards who were kidnapped by a Sunni militant group Jaish ul Adl earlier this month, Indian media reports quoted a foreign ministry official as saying.
In addition, the authorities have also managed to locate the hideout of the terrorist group, the head of the Iranian foreign ministry’s department of social affairs Muhammad Rafi’ee said on Tuesday.
Unknown militants abducted five Iranian border guards in Jakigour region in the Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan on February 6 and allegedly took them across the border to Pakistan. Later, Jaish ul Adl claimed responsibility for the abductions.
On Friday, Pakistan assured Iran that it would make all possible efforts for the recovery of five kidnapped Iranian border guards.
“Pakistan will strictly act if we get any information regarding the presence of kidnapped Iranian soldiers on our soil,” Chief Secretary Balochistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad said in a joint press conference along with the deputy governor of Sistan-Balochistan Ali Asghar Shikari in Quetta.
On February17, Iran’s interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that Iranian forces may enter Pakistani territory to free five border guards abducted by militants.
However, Pakistan’s Foreign Officer condemned his statement and said that Iranian forces have no authority to cross its borders as it is violation of the international law, urging Iran to respect Pakistan’s borders.
