Balochistan: A Peculiar Symmetry in the Recent Attacks by Pakistan and Iran

Tehran may be facing economic and geopolitical challenges, but it is in a far superior league compared to Islamabad.

Police officers search a car at the main entry gate of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Islamabad, Pakistan.

(Photo: AP/PTI)

There is a peculiar symmetry with respect to the recent developments in Pakistan and Iran, manifested in the attacks by both sides on each other’s Balochistan area.

All the targeted groups are Baloch fighting for independence from Pakistan on one hand, and from Iran on the other, but it is not clear if they are in any way fighting for a common cause. Islamabad and Tehran both do not acknowledge that they provide sanctuary to the other's Balochi militants.

The two Balochistans are parallel, sparsely populated provinces — called Balochistan in Pakistan and Sistan and Baluchistan in Iran — and are divided by a 1000 or so kilometre border.

Iran's Attack Targetting Jaish al-Adl

First off the blocks were the Iranians who launched strikes in Balochistan’s Panjgur district in Pakistan earlier this week on Tuesday. The Iranian attack followed their missile attacks into northern Syria on Monday, targeting ISIS and an alleged Israeli spy headquarters in the Kurdish area of Iraq.

The Iranian state news agency said that the attack using missiles and drones had destroyed the Pakistan headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), an organisation that came up in 2012 and is responsible for several attacks on Iran's security personnel in the neighbouring Sistan Baluchistan province.

The outfit had claimed responsibility for the December 2023 attack on a police station in Rask that killed at least 11 Iranian police officers. The ISIS-affiliated group is also alleged to have carried out a terrorist strike in Kerman that killed over 90 people last month during the memorial of Major General Qasim Solemani. The US also classifies the Jaish al-Adl as a terrorist group.

Confirming the Tuesday attack, the Pakistani foreign ministry said that two children were killed and three other people were wounded. They termed the attack as an “unprovoked violation” of the country’s air space and warned of “serious consequences.” Immediately after the attack, Pakistan expelled the Iranian ambassador and recalled its own from Iran. Iraq and Syria also rejected Tehran’s justification for its missile strikes.

A Backward Region That Suffers From Endemic Insurgencies

On Thursday, it was Pakistan’s turn. A press release declared that under Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar, Pakistan “undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran.” The release said that the action was a manifestation of Pakistan’s resolve “to defend its national security against all threats.”

The Pakistanis said that the targets were bases used by the Baloch Liberation Front and associated to it, the Baloch Liberation Army. The attack also used drones and missiles. The Iranians said that nine people including four children had been killed.

Pakistan and Iran share a border that divides the Balochi-dominated area of both countries. This is a backward region that suffers from endemic insurgencies that periodically flare up against Iran or Pakistan. It also generates tension between the two countries because the border between them is porous.

The strikes have taken place in the shadow of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. It is not directly linked to the fighting there, but it is an indirect consequence of rising tensions in the Middle East. A part of this arises from Iran’s strong support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

Iran's strikes were probably meant to convince the domestic audience that Tehran remains vigilant and tough when it comes to defending itself, even while ensuring that it does not end up tangling directly with the US or Israel. Indeed, Tehran is worried that the strikes by ISIS and the Jaish al-Adl could be part of a US covert operation aimed at pulling it into the Middle Eastern cauldron.

The Support Lines Are Clearly Drawn

A day after the Iranian strikes, India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement saying that while this was a matter between Iran and Pakistan, “We have an uncompromising position of zero tolerance towards terrorism. We understand actions that countries take in their self-defence.”

The Ministry, however, has remained silent thereafter and has not commented on the Pakistani attack on alleged terrorists in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province. This is not surprising. While India’s ties with Iran may be waning, they are still good. This is evident from the recent five-day visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Tehran, where he met President Ebrahim Raisi as well as his counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The support lines are clearly drawn in the wake of the crisis. While Russia and China, which have close ties with Iran, have urged maximum restraint, the US has appeared to be supportive of Pakistan. Even while urging restraint, a State Department spokesperson noted that Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally of the US, and “that will remain the case.” The US National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, added that it was Pakistan that was struck first, something that was “another example of Iran’s destabilising behavior in the region.” There are reports that Islamabad had prior consultations with Washington before undertaking the retaliatory strike on Iranian targets.

Last month, Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir paid a five-day visit to the US and met with senior officials. At the time, India had pointedly commented that while concerns over Pakistan’s support of terrorism are well known, “We hope that other countries would also take counter-terrorism seriously.”

The Iranians have reached out to the Russians for a security pact to offset US pressure. This was an important part of the agenda during President Raisi’s visit to Moscow last month. On Monday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called on his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Reza Ashtiani and indicated that the two sides will go ahead with the pact. According to the Iranian state news agency, it has been conveyed to Tehran that Moscow will explicitly commit itself to Iran's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

From the outset, it is clear that Pakistan wanted to send a clear signal of its determination to defend its sovereignty, as it did in the wake of India’s Balakot strike in 2019. But it also does not want a larger conflict with Iran. Tehran may be facing economic difficulties and geopolitical challenges, but it is in a far superior league compared to Islamabad, which is mired in economic and political crises, and has to confront the challenge of domestic extremism while looking over its shoulder at India.

The Pakistanis have always looked up to the Iranians who had helped them in their 1965 and 1971 wars with India. For this reason, the press release announcing the strike also spoke of Iran as a “brotherly country” and said that “the people of Pakistan have great respect and affection for the Iranian people."

(The writer is a Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)