Vishwakhabram: Why did Iran and Pakistan become thirsty for each other’s blood? What is the old history of conflict between the two?

When Iran claimed to have destroyed the hideouts of terrorists by attacking Pakistan with missiles and drones, in retaliation Pakistan also claimed to have destroyed the hideouts of terrorists by retaliating against Iran. The world is shocked by this attack and counterattack because wherever you look, war is breaking out. Russia-Ukraine have been fighting for two years, Israel and Hamas have been at war since last October. On the other hand, America and its allies have taken action against the Houthis who are spreading terror in the Red Sea and have launched an attack in Yemen. In such a situation, the way Pakistan and Iran are clashing with each other, the question arises whether the world will see another war? Well, it is not that Pakistan and Iran have clashed for the first time. In fact, there is a long history of conflict between these two countries. To understand how the terrorist organization Jaish al-Adl, which Iran has accused and attacked today, came into existence and what is its past, it is important to know some events of history.

Let us tell you that Sabz Koh is a border town which is the hometown of Mullah Hashim, the former second-in-command of Jaish al-Adl. Mullah Hashim extremist group Jundullah [भगवान के सैनिक] Is the successor of. The group has carried out several attacks on Iranian security forces in the south-eastern province of Sistan-e-Baluchestan in recent years. Let us tell you that Mullah Hashim was killed by Iranian security forces in 2018 in Saravan, bordering Iran. Based on the noise and commotion in Sabz Koh, where Iran carried out the airstrikes, residents initially suspected that Pakistan’s security forces might be carrying out an operation. He later learned from relatives abroad that it was an attack by Iran. Let us tell you that this small remote village is mainly inhabited by people who had come and settled from the neighboring country many years ago. According to Shir Ahmed Shiran Naroui, a resident of Panjgur, about 50 families live here permanently.

If seen, Pakistan’s reaction to this attack was unprecedented because this was the first air attack carried out by Iran in Pakistan. However, there is a long history of mistrust between the two countries which took a dangerous turn with the emergence of Jaish al-Adl in 2012. Let us tell you that Tehran’s harsh behavior towards the Baloch since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has promoted Sunni fundamentalism in Sistan-o-Baluchistan. Ethnic Baloch from Iran are said to have migrated to Balochistan and Karachi and became involved in activities against the Shah of Iran. With time these people became more religious and also fundamentalist. This is why Iran’s King Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, fearing the Baluch insurgency would spread to eastern Iran, sent 30 Cobra gunships with Iranian pilots to assist Islamabad during the Baluch infiltration into Pakistan from 1973 to 1977.

The terrorist group, Sipah-e-Rasool Allah, reportedly emerged in the 1990s under Malook Bux Darakhshan, an Iranian Baluch. This group was the first group to infiltrate across the border from Kech district of Balochistan into Sistan-o-Baluchistan of Iran. Malook received support from anti-Shia groups in Pakistan, which significantly shaped the religious dimension of Baloch resistance against Iran by defining his efforts as ‘jihad’. Apart from founding Sipah-e-Rasool Allah, he established a camp for Sunni jihadists in the Kulahoo compound in the early 2000s. After Malook’s death in 2006, his brother Mullah Omar Irani took over the leadership of Sipah-e-Rasool Allah and the complex. Motivated by the desire to avenge his brother who was killed by Iran, Mullah Omar Irani continued the struggle. Omar’s compound in Kulahu, Kech, located 45 miles (72 km) east of the Iran border, was the target of the first Iranian missile attack on November 25, 2013. Later, to strengthen the fight against Iran, Mullah Omar Irani merged his Sipah-e-Rasool Allah with Jundullah, who was led by a young man named Abdul Malik Rigi, who had grown up under the influence of Malook.

Let us tell you that Jundullah, established in 2002 to protect the rights of the Baloch minority in the poor region of south-east Iran, gained fame after an unsuccessful attack on the convoy of the then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Sistan-o-Baluchistan province in December 2005. Was found. Subsequently, on 16 March 2006, Jundullah militants disguised as police and military personnel established a checkpoint between Zahedan and Zabol. They deboarded 22 passengers and murdered them. This shocking incident prompted Iran to raise Jundullah’s activities with Pakistani authorities. Subsequently, on 14 June 2008, the Government of Pakistan, in an effort to build trust between the two countries, handed over Abdul Hamid, brother of Abdul Malik Rigi, who was arrested from Buleda and Turbat areas of Kech district a few months earlier. Abdul Hamid was hanged on 24 May 2010 in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-o-Baluchistan. However, the arrest and handing over of Rigi’s brother by Pakistani authorities had no impact on Jundullah. In October 2009, the militant group carried out a deadly bombing in Pishin, near Iran’s border with Pakistan, killing 43 people, including six commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. After this, for the first time Iran openly blamed Pakistan and the West for supporting Jundullah and Abdul Malik Rigi.

In February 2010, Tehran successfully captured Abdul Malik Rigi while he was on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. He was hanged in June the same year. Jundullah then continued its activities under the leadership of Al-Hajj Mohammad Dhaher Baloch from February 2010 to 2011. Under Dhaher, the militant group claimed responsibility for the July 2010 bombings that killed more than 20 members of the Shia community at a mosque in Zahedan, Iran, located in Sistan-o-Baluchestan. Similar attacks targeted several Shia Muslims in Chabahar in December 2010 and October 2012. Over time, however, Jundullah experienced a decline in his strength. At the same time, Turbat-based Mullah Omar Irani, along with like-minded people, founded Jaish al-Adl in 2012, which has now become a source of distrust between Pakistan and Iran.

Jaysh al-Adl is also known as the Army of Justice. It was established in 2012 in the border areas of Pakistan and Iran. Although its leadership is largely unknown, it is widely believed that Mullah Omar Irani was one of its key founders. The group came into limelight after 13 Revolutionary Guards were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in Sarwan in October 2013. Let us tell you that in response to the October 2013 attack, Iran for the first time fired a deadly missile at Kulahu, the compound of Mullah Omar Irani in Kech. Mullah Omar survived, although his house and the adjacent mosque were damaged.

The period of violence continued. In February 2014, Jaish al-Adl kidnapped four Iranian soldiers and reportedly brought them to Pakistan, following which Iran accused Pakistan of failure to control cross-border infiltration. Iran threatened to send troops to Pakistan if the soldiers were not released. The soldiers were eventually released in April of that year. Subsequently, in October 2014, a failed attack by Jaish al-Adl killed four members of Iranian security forces in Sarwan. This time, Sarwan’s Brigadier General Hussain Salami threatened to send troops into Pakistan if it failed to rein in Jaish al-Adl. By March 2016, the situation had become even more serious. Following the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, in the Mashkel area of ​​Balochistan near the Iranian border, Pakistan had also accused Iran of harboring Baloch separatists involved in the insurgency in Pakistan.

Tensions escalated further when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans to construct and operate the Chabahar port during his visit to Iran in May 2016. Iran began to view Gwadar as a competitor to its Chabahar port. The blame game escalated further and Iran fired rockets at the border cities of Pakistan. In July 2017, Iran fired rockets at Panjgur. Subsequently, in June 2017, the Foreign Office confirmed for the first time that the Pakistan Air Force had shot down an Iranian drone flying in the Panjgur area of ​​Pakistan. In July 2019, Pakistani forces seized an Iranian spy drone in Chagai, further escalating the blame game. Despite tensions, Pakistan refrained from escalating the situation; Rather, efforts were made to calm the situation diplomatically.

Additionally, on November evening in 2020, just two days after Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s visit to Islamabad, Turbat police reportedly shot dead Iran’s most wanted terrorist leader Mullah Omar Irani and his two sons in an alleged encounter. Did it. According to the police, Mullah Irani was hiding in the posh satellite town of Turbat. But this game of blame and counter-blame is no longer one-sided. In January, April and June 2023, Pakistan accused Iran of being behind three attacks carried out by Baloch separatists in Pakistan. In April 2019, then Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accused Iran of providing bases to Raji Ajoi Sangar (BRAS), an umbrella organization of Baloch separatist groups, which attacked a bus in Balochistan, killing 14 passengers. . The actions taken by Iran in Pakistan this week were unprecedented and more deadly than previous attacks. Let us tell you that this attack was due to the attacks carried out by Jaish al-Adl on the Iranian city of Rusk in December, in which 11 Iranian security personnel were killed.

However, it is not that Iran and Pakistan are at loggerheads with each other only because of terrorist organizations. If seen, the economic interests of both the countries are being affected due to Gwadar and Chabahar. Apart from this, Pakistan’s increasing cooperation with Gulf countries and America has also provoked Iran. It remains to be seen whether peace can be established between the two countries through diplomatic talks or whether a new war will start in the region.

-Neeraj Kumar Dubey