Pakistan and Iran have agreed to work together to improve security cooperation in the wake of deadly air strikes by Tehran and Islamabad earlier this month that killed at least 11 people.
The development came after the top Iranian diplomat, Hossein Amirabdollahian, held talks in Islamabad with his Pakistani counterpart, Jalil Abbas Jilani.
The Iranian foreign minister also met Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar.
Iran-Pakistan ties worsened significantly on January 17, when Iran launched air strikes in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Baluchistan province, targeting what Tehran said were hideouts of the anti-Iran Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice.
Pakistan said two children were killed and three others were injured.
Angered over the strikes, Pakistan recalled its ambassadors from Tehran and launched air strikes against alleged militant hideouts inside Iran, in the Sistan and Baluchestan province, killing at least nine people. Islamabad said it was targeting Baluch militant groups with separatist goals.
At a joint news conference, Mr Amirabdollahian and Mr Jilani said they would work through existing channels in their leadership, diplomatic and military levels to co-operate with each other.
Mr Jilani said the two countries were able to bring the “situation back to normal in the shortest possible time” after the air strikes because both sides had agreed to resume dialogue to resolve all issues.
“Terrorism poses a common challenge to our countries,” Mr Jilani said, and stressed that “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity remains the immutable and foundational principle of this co-operation” between the neighbours.
He announced regular future meetings at top ministerial levels and also between liaison officers.
Mr Amirabdollahian said Pakistan and Iran will also set up free trade economic zones near the border regions to enhance their bilateral trade.
Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks on their sides of the border.
Experts say the tit-for-tat strikes this month were at least partially prompted by internal political pressures, though they also raised the threat of violence spreading across the Middle East, already unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
During his visit, Mr Amirabdollahian is also expecting to brief his hosts about an incident on Saturday in which unknown gunmen shot and killed at least four Pakistani labourers and injured three others in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province.
Pakistan has condemned the killings, describing the attack as “horrifying and despicable”.
Relatives of the dead Pakistanis rallied on Sunday, demanding that the bodies of their loved ones be brought home.
Pakistan said arrangements were being made for that with Iran’s help and that the three injured workers were being treated at an Iranian hospital.
