Tehran condoles death of 8 Pakistanis in Iran

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister of Iran Seyyed Abbas Araghchi telephoned Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday and offered condolences on the tragic death of eight Pakistanis in Iran.

The Foreign Office, while commenting on the telephone call, said that Iran had assured full cooperation in bringing the perpetrators to justice and repatriating the mortal remains of the victims. Relatives of the victims have reached out to the government to hasten the repatriation of bodies.

Last Sunday, eight Pakistanis were killed in southeastern Iran, in the Mehrestan County of Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan. The murdered Pakistanis were all from Bahawalpur, were tied and shot dead by unidentified gunmen at a workshop where they worked. “Pakistan strongly condemns the inhumane and cowardly killing of its nationals in Iran. We hope for the Iranian side’s full cooperation in investigating the matter and in the timely repatriation of victims’ remains,” the FO had said at the time. The government had said earlier that after conducting medico-legal procedures and completing necessary documentation, the remains would be handed over to the Consul General of Pakistan in Zahedan for repatriation.

“The Iran FM also briefed his counterpart regarding the 12th April talks between Iran and the US in Oman, which Dar appreciated and encouraged,” said the FO. However, no details of the April 12 talks were mentioned.

Meanwhile, Pakistan strongly opposed new permanent seats at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as proposed by Japan, India, Brazil and Germany, all members of the G-4 nations. “The Pakistan delegation would like to underline that for the sake of equity and democracy, the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) has proposed that Security Council’s expansion takes place only in the category of elected, non-permanent members. We remain staunchly opposed to proposals for permanent seats, as there is no justification for creating new centres of privilege within the UN,” said Ambassador Usman Iqbal Jadoon, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan at the UNSC. “Our goal is to democratise the Council and support a reform that corresponds to the interests of the large majority of member states and regional and cross-regional groups, not just a few self-appointed states,” he added.