BE selective in your battles. Sometimes peace is much better than being right’, these are the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who was an American philosopher known for his logical essays and rational poetry. He was one of those who led the Transcendentalist Movement of the mid-19th century which developed in the New England region of the United States. Transcendentalism was a philosophical spiritual and literary movement which advocated the inherent goodness of people and nature. According to the philosophy presented by the leaders of that movement, ‘while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent’. When we ponder over the sayings of Waldo in the specific perspective of Iran’s recent unprovoked violation of Pakistan’s airspace, we are really impressed by the logic presented by him. No doubt, we must be Selective in our Battles as sometimes Peace is much better than being Right. And no doubt Pakistan has always been very keen and careful with reference to avoiding Battles and securing Peace.
The recent undesired and unpleasant incident of missiles and drone attacks from Iranian forces inside Pakistan killed two innocent children and left some other seriously injured. Certainly this violation seems illogical keeping in view the regional instability sparked by the Israel-Gaza War. Violation of Pakistan’s boundaries is not a ‘new’ incident; Iran had been doing the same thing for the last many years in the name of Operation against the Terrorists taking refuge along the combined borders of the two countries. Al-Jazeera has prepared a timeline of ‘friendly-confrontation’ between the two brotherly countries which points out that the situation has been getting worse day by day since 2013. The year 2023 had been the most unpleasant with reference to the border violation between the two countries. In January 2023, Pakistan’s four security officials deputed along the border with Iran in Balochistan were killed in Pakistan’s Chukab sector of Panjgur district by the terrorists of Iranian origin. In April 2023 attackers from Iran killed four of Pakistan’s border patrol soldiers in the Jalgai sector of Kech district. In June 2023, some armed terrorists killed two Pakistani soldiers at a checkpoint in the Singwan area of the Kech district and escaped into Iran. It is something very positive that Iran had always condemned such terrorist activities inside Pakistan by the terrorists having safe havens in Iran. Both countries had been acting upon different action plans of crushing these terrorists but after taking each other into confidence; recent incident seems Iran’s first action against the terrorists without getting the consent of Pakistan.
Experts are of the opinion that Iran’s recent attacks of missiles and drones on the Pakistani side show military incompetence of Iranian forces and of their intelligence agencies. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, while talking to media at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said, “On Pakistan, none of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan was targeted by Iranian missiles and drones. The air attacks in Pakistan that killed two children this week targeted an “Iranian terrorist group”. Whatever happened there in the last week must not be named as Pak-Iran War; it all was result of a misunderstanding. Incompetence of the Iranian military and of their intelligence agencies added a lot of confusion to the situation. In the same way Pakistan’s military response to the Iranian air strikes must not be ranked as an Attack on Iran.
The spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, in an official statement, that Pakistan had to undertake a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Balochistan province of Iran. A number of terrorists were killed during this Intelligence-based operation. This operation was codenamed Marg Bar Sarmachar. The statement said, “Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani origin terrorists calling themselves Sarmachars on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran. Pakistan also shared multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists. However, because of lack of action on our serious concerns, these so-called Sarmachars continued to spill the blood of innocent Pakistanis with impunity. This action was taken in the light of credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities by these so-called Sarmachars.”
Whatever Pakistan did was the need of time; Pakistan’s silence over the incident would have encouraged all those who dream of invading Pakistan’s geographical as well as ideological boundaries. Moreover this action was a direct message to all forces hostile to Pakistan that the defence forces of Pakistan have all required skill and talent of protecting and defending its national security against all threats. This action was no doubt a testimony to the professionalism of the Pakistan defence forces also. It is never going to happen that just because of a handful of terrorists and miscreants, Pakistan and Iran would engage themselves in a useless and illogical state of war. Iran and Pakistan are two brotherly countries and the people of both countries have great respect and affection for each other. Pakistan always respects and regards the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Hopefully the situation would be normalized very soon through dialogue and table-talk. It is a reality that the menace of terrorism is a challenge for both the countries and without mutual cooperation and endeavours to find joint solutions this challenge could never be faced successfully. Moreover, all forces hostile to Pakistan must keep in mind, as emphasized by the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs too, Pakistan will never allow its sovereignty and territorial integrity to be challenged, under any pretext or circumstances though Pakistan prefers Peace to Battle.
—The writer is Principal of a Government College and senior columnist, based in Multan.
Email: [email protected]
views expressed are writer’s own.
