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Iran apprehends eight Pakistanis from Jiwani

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: In an apparent reaction to the recent arrest of 10 Iranian Revolutionary Guards personnel by the Frontier Corps (FC) last week, the Iranian Marine Security Agency on Sunday arrested eight officials of the Fisheries Department in the Jiwani coastal area.

Officials in Gwadar confirmed that eight personnel, including a marine inspector, had been arrested by the Iranian Marine Security Agency while on a routine patrol.

The Pakistani officials have been charged with illegally crossing into the Iranian territorial waters.

The arrested officials, including Marine Inspector Abdul Salam, have been moved to Chabahar, an Iranian port city, for further investigation. Pakistani officials said the arrested personnel had not been released until late on Sunday, despite repeated requests.

Tensions between Iran and Pakistan have mounted in recent weeks after a suicide bomb struck the Iranian town of Sarbaz, killing the deputy chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and around 40 others.

Subsequently, Iran sealed its border with Pakistan and accused Islamabad of harbouring Abdul Malik Reigi, the chief of Jundullah, which claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last week, officials arrested 10 Iranian Revolutionary Guards personnel from inside Pakistani territory after they allegedly crossed the Pakistani border in their hunt for Jundullah activists.

Jundallah emerged seven years ago in Iran with claims to fight for the rights of minority Baloch Sunnis in Iran, who it said were denied basic rights by the dominant Shia regime in Tehran.

However, both countries managed to settle the dispute diplomatically the government Islamabad directed authorities in Quetta to release all the detained Iranian officials.

It is the first time that the Iranian officials have arrested such a large number of Pakistani government officials on charges of illegally crossing the border.

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