Pakistan Prime Minister held an emergency meeting on Friday, January 19, with top intelligence and military officials following hostile confrontations with Iran.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the Pakistani Prime Minister told AFP news agency that, “The Prime Minister has summoned a meeting of the National Security Committee set to take place today,” . The Chief of Army Staff and head of the intelligence services were also in attendance, with the meeting reportedly commencing early evening on Friday.
A telephonic exchange between Pak foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has resulted in both sides agreeing to de-escalate the situation. Most analysts had already predicted this outcome, with the two nations mutually agreeing to restore normalcy and cooperation.
Antoine Levesques, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said, “The upshot of the new situation is that the two countries are seemingly and symbolically even,”.
Iran-Pakistan Conflicts in Balochistan
On Tuesday, January 16, Iran carried out deadly strikes in the south-western region of Pakistan in Balochistan, in order to eliminate what Iran’s foreign minister called “Iranian militant group”, Jaish al-Adl. In retaliation, Pak launched a few strikes on their domestic militant groups in Iran.
The recent attacks in the shared border region between the two nations have resulted in the death of 11, most of whom are women and children.
The missile and drone attacks by Iran had prompted the care-taking Pak leader Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to depart early from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Residents of the remote villages in the border-region rely mostly on Iranian trade for their livelihood. The tensions in the region had thus, created stirred fear among them about potential border closures.
