Pakistan's military has dismissed reports that Iran has killed a commander from the Jaish al-Adl terrorist organisation within Pakistani territory. This comes as Iranian media reported that Iranian security forces killed Esmaeil Shahbakhsh, a ringleader of the Jail al-Adl terrorist group, inside Pakistan near the border province of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan.
This comes a month after both countries carried out airstrikes on each other's territories.
However, the military sources on Saturday snubbed these reports, adding that these claims were aimed at mitigating the embarrassment arising from the recent ‘Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar’.
"Social media and some foreign media are spreading false propaganda that Iranian forces have killed a commander of Jaishul Adl on Pakistani soil. No such incident happened on Pakistani soil," a military source was quoted by Karachi-based newspaper Dawn.
According to the sources, a false narrative was created by portraying the recent killing, which happened due to cross-firing between smuggler groups, as a counter-terrorism operation.
Shahbakhsh was reportedly involved in recent terrorist activities in southeastern Iran, according to Tehran Times. Pakistani and Iranian foreign ministers had, meanwhile, spoken over the phone late Friday evening, which was claimed by some diplomatic sources as unscheduled, Dawn added.
Pakistan claimed that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian contacted Islamabad to congratulate it on recent elections and expressed desire desire to strengthen bilateral ties. The Iranian side had, meanwhile, claimed that the two sides reviewed the progress made on the understanding reached at the time of the restoration of bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, Express Tribune quoted another source which pointed fingers at Indian media, stating their involvement in "promoting this fabricated narrative." The unnamed source alleged that the "motive behind such actions may be linked to geopolitical tensions and a desire to create a misleading impression about the effectiveness of anti-terrorism efforts in the region."
This comes in the backdrop of the recent tensions which saw Iran firing missiles at targets inside Pakistan allegedly to destroy two "important headquarters" of Jaish al-Adl. The strike killed two children and injured three others.
Pakistan retaliated after two days, targeting hideouts of the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front. Following this, the two countries had mutually agreed to expand security cooperation and de-escalate tensions.
