Pakistan, Iran want development in Afghanistan, says Iranian scholar

Islamabad: Iranian scholar Dr. Saadullah Zarei has said that Iran has always supported Pakistan against India. Pakistan and Iran want peace and development in Afghanistan.

He was addressing the roundtable conference on ‘Iranian Perspective on Iran-Pakistan Relations and Regional Security’ organised by Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS) here. Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) Chairman former ambassador of Pakistan to Iran Khalid Mahmood chaired the conference. Executive Director of CISS, former ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi were the key speakers. Iranian scholar Dr. Saadullah Zarei said that Pakistan and Iran along with China, Russia and Turkey want peace and development in Afghanistan and want to play their positive role for its development. Talking about Iranian perspective regarding Pakistan, Dr. Saadullah Zarei although Iran has good relations with India but it has also supported Pakistan against India on international level. “Being a Muslim country, Iran has strong relations with Pakistan over India,” he added.

Dr. Saadullah Zarei said that Iran doesn’t want Pakistan to limit its relations with Saudi Arabia whereas Iran wants stronger relations between them, as regional cooperation is very important for the security.

Defining the security Dr. Saadullah Zarei said that meaning of security is changed now. In the past, meaning of security was to protect yourself against your enemy but now security is more like cooperation. A country has more cooperation with other countries is more secured. Khalid Mahmood in his address said that we can’t forget the support from Iran at the time of need in 1965 and 1971. “Pakistan and Iran always have positive relations and both the countries are supporting each other on all the levels,” he added.

He said Pakistan-Iran relations were not even effected when Pakistan was supporting Taliban whereas Iran was against them. “External factors have affected Pakistan-Iran relations, appreciating the Iran support on CPEC.

In his welcome remarks, CISS Executive Director Ali Sarwar Naqvi said that Iran was the first country to recognise the Pakistan’s statehood in 1947. Although the present time is very different and the domestic political systems have changed considerably, with Iran having undergone a revolution and Pakistan through many transitions, the relations between the two states have survived the test of time. He said the two countries need to develop their communication links of road, rail and air, to promote greater interaction.