The topics to be covered by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during his maiden visit to Pakistan, can be gauged from the ministers accompanying him, Apart from the Foreign Minister and Defence Ministers, there is also the minister for industry and mining, as well as the governor of Iran’s Seistan-Balochistan province. That means that Iran wants to talk about defence cooperation, it also wants to talk specifically about the opportunities in Pakistan for mining. At the same time, there is also the need for discussion about the handling of the separatist problem on both sides of the border, which is presently not united, but where each’s separatists has got safe havens in the other’s territory.
Another pressing aspect of the relationship is the security dimension. Iran is up against Israel and the USA over the allegation that it is developing nuclear weapons. Pakistan has found itself in need of Iran in the recent confrontation against India, and when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif embarked on a thank-you tour, Iran was one of the destinations. Similarly, when Iran’s nuclear facilities and national leadership was bombed first by Israel and then the USA, Pakistan made public avowals of support for Iran, and private efforts for the ceasefire that finally brought that clash to an end. Another shared factor for both countries is their friendship with China, and specifically their cooperation with it, particularly in defence. While both Iran and China find their differences with the USA driving them together, Pakistan’s desire to stay on the right side of the USA has led in a somewhat different direction, to the extent that it has not completed the gas pipeline from Iran, from fear of US sanctions.
One of the main aspects of the relationship is their shared border. It does just involve each other’s separatists, though that is a major subject. There is also the aspect of smuggling. It should not be forgotten that if there were beneficiaries on the Pakistani side, there were others on the Iranian. Unless both sides are to launch crackdowns together, and closely coordinated at that, one side’s crackdown will only be partial. There is also the question of the pilgrims to holy sites in Iran, and the need to provide them security. There are sectarian dimensions to the relationship which must be controlled mutually and tightly.
