Hours after Ajit Doval meets Iran official, Pakistani ultras strike near Chabahar port

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, April 4

Pakistan-based terrorists mounted a major attack near the India-run port of Chabahar in Iran, killing 11 defence personnel, shortly after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Iran’s top security official Ali Akbar Ahmadian in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

At his meeting with Ahmadian, Doval discussed bilateral security and economic cooperation and mourned the killing of Iranian advisers in an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus. The MEA also said it was distressed at the escalating tensions in West Asia and urged all sides to avoid actions that went against commonly accepted principles and norms of international law.

In his speech at an SCO meeting of NSAs in Astana, Doval had mentioned several terrorist groups operating from Pakistan that needed to be acted against. He did not mention the Pakistan-based Jaish al-Adl, which mounted the sudden attacks on Wednesday night on the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) camps meant to secure the Chabahar port, which India operates.

The port has seen increasing interest from countries, including Uzbekistan, that will reduce the importance of Pakistan’s Gwadar port, which it is positioning as an alternative communications route to Central Asian countries. Given the freefall in its ties with Pakistan, Afghanistan is also keen on using the route, which will divert traffic from the Karachi port.

Jaish al-Adl’s attack, which took place on IRGC fortifications at Chabahar and the nearby Rask camp, saw 26 deaths — 11 members of the security forces and 15 of the militants.

Iran had struck at Jaish al-Adl’s safe havens in Pakistan in February, killing a senior commander. This led to retaliatory airstrikes by Pakistan in Iran, ostensibly to eliminate militants targeting Islamabad.

“The situation in Rask and Chabahar is under control,” said Iranian Deputy Minister for Security Mir Ahmadi. In a sensational operation in 2010, chief of Jaish al-Adl Abdolmalek Rigi was captured from a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan, which was forced to land by Iranian fighter jets. Accused of directing several bombings and attacks in Iran, Rigi was subsequently executed in Tehran. Founded in 2003.

NSA discusses security with Ahmadian

• n At his meeting with Iran’s top security official Ali Akbar Ahmadian, NSA Doval discussed security and economic cooperation in Kazakhstan
• n The MEA said it was distressed at the escalating tensions in West Asia and urged all sides to avoid actions that went against commonly accepted principles and norms of international law