ISLAMABAD: Islamabad declared on Wednesday that it was removing the Iranian ambassador and withdrawing its envoy from Tehran in response to Iran’s breach of Pakistani airspace.
At a press conference in Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated, “Pakistan has decided to recall its ambassador from Iran and that the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan who is currently visiting Iran may not return for the time being.”
The event follows Tehran’s use of drones and missiles to demolish the headquarters of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), a terrorist organization it claimed to be operating within Pakistani territory’s “Green Mountain”; Iranian official media also reported on the attack.
According to the FO, the assaults on the Pakistani side injured three females and killed two youngsters.
Islamabad described Iran’s action as a “unprovoked and blatant” infringement of Pakistan’s sovereignty and said it went against international law as well as the goals and tenets of the UN Charter.
This illegal act has no justification at all and is utterly reprehensible. Pakistan is reserving the right to take action against this unlawful act. Iran will bear full responsibility for the fallout, according to Baloch.
The official further disclosed that Islamabad has made the decision to halt any high-level visits between Pakistan and Iran that were scheduled or already taking place in the near future.
The FO had earlier bemoaned that the “unacceptable” situation in Tehran and warned of “serious consequences”.
Islamabad has already strongly condemned Tehran’s action and informed the Iranian Charge d’affaires that Iran has full responsibility for the fallout from such an aggressive move.
The spokesperson reaffirmed Pakistan’s position on concerted efforts to combat the evil of terrorism and emphasized that such unilateral actions are out of step with good neighborly relations and have the potential to substantially erode mutual trust and confidence.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran had also launched missile attacks on several “terrorist” targets in Syria and the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq one day earlier. According to the official IRNA news agency, these attacks destroyed “a spy headquarters” and a “gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
