KARACHI: Pakistan’s customs delegation returned home on Wednesday after a three-day meeting with their Iranian counterparts in Chabahar was disrupted by a deadly Iranian missile strike on Pakistani territory, officials said.
The 11th meeting of the joint border trade committee between Pakistan and Iran, which began on Tuesday, was aimed at boosting bilateral trade and resolving border issues.
However, the talks were cut short when Iran launched a missile and drone attack on a village in Balochistan province, near the border with Iran, on Tuesday evening, killing two children and injuring three others, Pakistani authorities said.
Iran claimed it had targeted the militant group Jaish-al-Adl, which it accused of carrying out attacks inside Iran, but Pakistan condemned the strike as a “blatant breach” of its sovereignty and recalled its ambassador from Tehran.
The chief collector of customs in Balochistan Qadir Memon led the delegation comprising Collector Gwadar Engineer Riaz memon, Collector Taftan Naveed Iqbal and other officers as well as representatives of the Quetta and Gwadar chambers of commerce and industry.
He said the annual meeting, which alternates between Pakistan and Iran, was supposed to last for three days and that the two sides had agreed on several points to enhance bilateral trade, which stood at $1.2 billion in 2023.
Pakistan and Iran share a 900-km (560-mile) border, which is often plagued by smuggling, drug trafficking and militant activity. Both countries have long accused each other of harboring and supporting separatist groups that operate in the restive Baloch region on both sides of the border.
The Iranian attack came amid rising tensions in the Middle East, where Iran and its allies have been launching attacks on Israel and its allies in response to the war in Gaza. The United States and Britain have also carried out air strikes on Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.