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Pakistan, Iran jockey for influence after bombings
[Dawn] As tension grows between Pakistain and Iran after a mosque bombing in Iran, Pakistain could find itself increasingly isolated as its western neighbour looks to increase its influence in the region, analysts say.Jundollah, a Sunni Mohammedan jihad boy group Iran says is based in Pakistain's southwestern province of Baluchistan, grabbed credit for a Dec. 15 double suicide kaboom in the Iranian town of Chabahar that killed 39 people and maimed more than 100. Iran has demanded Pakistain take action with Iran's diminutive President Mahmoud Short RoundAhmadinejad calling this week on his Pak counterpart, Asif Ali President Ten PercentZardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... , to arrest "identified terrorists" and hand them over to Iran. Iran says Jundollah fighters find shelter in Pakistain. Pakistain denies providing shelter for the group. But in an echo of US demands regarding Taliban sanctuaries in northwest Pakistain, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee suggested that if Pakistain didn't act, Iran would. Analysts say the strong words from Iranian officials add to growing international pressure on Pakistain to take stern action against beturbanned goons operating out of its territory. "Iran is ... a major regional stakeholder in Afghanistan and a competitor of Pakistain there. It is therefore likely that Iran is now flexing its muscles on its eastern flank to showcase its regional rise," the intelligence firm STRATFOR said. Pakistain and Iran have long jockeyed for influence in Afghanistan, with Pakistain supporting the ethnic Pashtun and Sunni Mohammedan Taliban and pre-dominantly Shi'ite Iran backing the Taliban's enemies in the old Northern Alliance of non-Pashtuns and some Shi'ite groups. Posted by: Fred 2010-12-23 |
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