Pakistan has been quite busy in organizing proxy wars simultaneously in several bordering nations. Along with the Pulwama attack in India, it is reported to be behind a suicide bomber attack in Iran as well. On Wednesday, a suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying personnel affiliated to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, killing at least 27 people and wounding 20 others. Pakistan aims to target the armed forces in various countries, with the aim to essentially weaken the defense of the specific country, furthering its immoral agendas.
The terror attack has been perpetrated by a Sunni Muslim extremist group Jaish al-Adl. This group is affiliated with al-Qaida and is an incarnation of Jundallah, a terrorist group, which began a bloody rebellion against the Islamic republic in 2000. Jaish al-Adl was founded in 2012 by Salahuddin Farooqui, a militant known for his opposition to Iran’s support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war. Since then it has claimed responsibility for dozens of deadly bombings, ambushes and other attacks on Iranian security forces in the restive region, as well as abductions. This group operates in Balochistan and attempts to target and create terror among Shia Muslims.
Ironically, the attack came on the heels of Iran’s celebrating the 40th anniversary of its revolution, which saw the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Shah as well as the founding of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, who were primarily targeted. Over and above that, the attack came as a two-day international summit kicked off in Poland. The U.S. is co-hosting a gathering in Warsaw called the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East. The focus was primarily expected to be on Iran and how to deal with terrorism in Asia. This latest episode of terror, unfortunately, beats the entire purpose of the Summit.
Iran has had issues with Pakistan backed terrorist organizations for a long time. The two nations share a 965 km border which has been fraught with disturbances. On many occasions, Iran has accused Islamabad of allowing terror groups to use its territory to launch strikes across the border. Retaliating eventually after decades of peace at their end, Iranian border guards fired mortar shells into Balochistan on 26th February 2014 and on 28th September 2016, which landed in the district of Panjgoor. This incident of 2016 came about at the same time when India conducted Surgical Strikes in POK.
It is worth noting here that even after being fully aware of the terrorist activities; the organization is not banned in Pakistan. The group is essentially meant to provide the terrorist country a tool of proxy war of which Iran has also been a target.