Tabnak – Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa was in Tehran at the head of a delegation of ranking military officials for talks with his Iranian counterpart and other officials. Bilateral and regional issues was at the top of the agenda of his meetings in Tehran.
On Monday, the Chief of General Staff for Iranian Armed Forces General Mohammad Bagheri officially welcomed his Pakistani counterpart. During a consequent meeting, the two army chiefs exchanged views on various bilateral and regional issues.
According to ISNA, they stressed the need for expanding defense and security relations in solving common issues especially in identifying and countering factors that cause the spread of terrorism along the borders between Iran and Pakistan.
The army chiefs also insisted on the need for expanding defense and security ties in the industrial, research and training fields.
Bajwa had a separate meeting on Tuesday with Iran’s defense minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami, called for cooperation with Pakistan to help establish peace and security in Afghanistan. He also called for closer interaction between the two Muslim neighbors to ensure regional stability.
Iran and Pakistan’s synergy could help the Afghan government to end a crisis that has engulfed that country for 37 years and to experience peace and security, the Iranian minister added.
The Pakistani general, for his part, said fighting against terrorism and combatting insecurity along the common border with Iran are among Islamabad’s main priorities in the military sphere.
Meeting with the Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, was another part of Pakistani General’s schedule in Tehran. At the meeting, the IRGC commander urged Pakistan to consider the successful experience of reliance on the popular forces to counter insecurity.
He also voiced Iran’s readiness to offer its experience of forty years of defense, popular resistance and dealing with hostile threats to neighboring Pakistan.
The Pakistani general, for his part, described popular support as the major factor behind Iran’s success in countering its enemies, expressing the hope that Islamabad would begin to use the Iranian experience of ‘Basij’ and tap into the popular forces.
Also on Tuesday, Bajwa met Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, who said terrorism as well as sectarian and ethnic rifts are the two main issues afflicting the Muslim world, blaming some world powers for creating and spreading such divisions.
Rouhani also welcomed the expansion of defense and military cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad in order to boost regional stability and security, saying that the Islamic Republic was determined to have cordial and strong relations with neighboring countries, including Pakistan.
The Pakistani chief of army staff, for his part, commended deep-rooted mutual relations between Tehran and Islamabad and said his country was keen to improve defense and military ties with Iran in parallel with political and economic cooperation.
The top Pakistani commander arrived in Tehran on Sunday evening for an official visit, and was received by Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri in a formal ceremony on Monday morning.
