Interim Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar interrupted his visit to the economic forum in Davos and is returning to Pakistan ahead of schedule amid worsening relations with Iran.
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Kakar returns to Pakistan on Thursday, cutting short his visit. He was previously scheduled to return on January 22. According to the official, the prime minister wanted to return late Wednesday night, but was unable to do so due to flight schedules as he had traveled to Switzerland on a commercial flight.
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On the evening of January 16, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it had launched a ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle attack on the main base of the Jaysh al-Adl terrorist group, located in the Pakistani province of Balochistan bordering Iran. Pakistan strongly condemned the Iranian attack and on Wednesday recalled its ambassador from Tehran, also indicating that the Iranian ambassador would also not be able to continue his diplomatic mission in Islamabad for the time being.
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On Thursday, January 18, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry announced a series of attacks on terrorist hideouts in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan. The Foreign Ministry noted that the target of the operation was terrorists of Pakistani origin calling themselves “sarmachars” in ungovernable territories inside Iran. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry indicated that Pakistan respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the only purpose of the strikes was to ensure Pakistan’s own security and national interests.
