Tehran, Iran, April 22
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran and Pakistan have agreed to tighten security on the joint border between the two countries and also to swap the captured terrorists, Iran's Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Brigadier General Hossein Zolfaqari said.
"The governments of Iran and Pakistan are conducting joint actions to tackle terrorist movements around the joint border," he told Trend.
Zolfaqari reminded that Iran and Pakistan signed a security agreement at ministerial level, which is being implemented.
The official said that Iranian and Pakistani delegations have also agreed to have both sides' border guards to keep in touch.
"We've agreed that the grade two border guards from both sides should meet once a month, grade one border guards should meet every three months and the border authorities of the two provinces (Pakistan's Baluchestan province and Iran's Sistan&Baluchistan province) should meet every six months in well-organized sessions, to exchange information in full," he said.
According to Zolfaqari, it was also agreed that Iranian and Pakistani border guards would provide each other with instant reports on terrorist movements on their side.
Another important point was the mutual swap of captured terrorists.
"The more important point was an agreement on swapping captured criminals," Zolfaqari said. "It was agreed that the two sides would hand over the terrorists they have arrested to the other side. Right now there are examples of the case, in which a number of terrorists have been arrested by Pakistani forces and are to be extradited to Iran as soon as possible."
Further on, Zolfaqari issued comments on the previous border terrorist attack, during which the Abdolmalek Rigi group kidnapped a number of Iranian border guards and then killed 14 of them. The bodies of the guards have not been delivered to the Iranian side yet.
Zolfaqari said that security officials from both sides are slated to meet in Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province on April 28 and 29 in order to investigate the ways to acquire the bodies and return them to their families.
The Iran-Pakistan border is the scene of frequent terrorist attacks. Having lost much in terms of lives and security preparation costs, Iran blames the Pakistani government for inadequate security measures to keep its land free of terrorist groups.
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Mehdi Sepahvand is Trend Agency's journalist in Iran, follow him on Twitter: @mehdisepahvand