ISLAMABAD: Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost said on Saturday that Iran was ready to use its special influence and relations with Pakistan and India to mediate between the conflicting parties on Kashmir issue and help bring sustainable peace to the region.
In an interview, Honardoost said: “Iranian government has announced its readiness for any support, for any hope of peace and tranquility in the region.”
However, the ambassador clarified that neither side had put in a formal request for mediation yet. “We have not yet received any official request from both sides for Iran as a large country in the region to come and try to solve the matter,” he said. The ambassador maintained that any conflict or tension between the two countries would hinder their progress and also impact upon the economies of the other countries in the region. “It is important to remove such tensions to ensure sustainable and durable peace in the region,” he added.
The ambassador said that terrorism was a global phenomenon, “It is not located only in one area or in one country, and it is the consequence of the approach of the super powers towards terrorism,” he said. “On the one hand, the super powers have been supporting some sort of terrorist elements against the host country’s government and on the other they have been fighting against it on some other time or in some other country,” he said.
“This contradictory approach is the root-cause of good or bad terrorists. Terrorism is bad in all its manifestations. In Syria, they [terrorists] are dangerous. One day they will come back to their own societies and I am sure that controlling them will not be easy for their governments,” he said.
He said that there were several terrorists groups in Syria. “They received support from some countries. Then they stood up against the people and government of Syria, but the resistance of the people did not let them succeed,” he said. He said that the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) was very important. “The Islamic world needs to widen its sphere by adding all Islamic countries to its fold. As part of this family, we should try to have more interaction. Many Islamic countries right now are in a chaotic situation. We should try to improve the situation. The responsibility of this issue is on the shoulders of Islamic countries like Iran and Pakistan,” he said.
He said that the Islamic world was facing multifaceted problems at present, which included conflicts and tensions between each other.
“More interaction and cooperation between the biggest Islamic countries can help remove tensions between them,” he said. Responding to a question on whether Iran was interested in joining the Saudi-led coalition of Islamic countries, he said that the Iranian authorities had announced their intention to join the alliance as Iran firmly believed that all the tensions which the Islamic world was facing could be resolved. “It is better for all important countries to come together and resolve these issues of the Islamic world. We believe that bringing peace has more priority and importance than any other problem,” he said.
Talking about the trade ties between Pakistan and Iran, he said that bilateral trade could be enhanced. He said that the Free Trade Agreement draft had been signed and it would soon become operational. He said that the relevant authorities of both countries would be meeting in the forthcoming 20th round of the economic joint commission between Pakistan and Iran. “Tangible plans will be evolved to further strengthen the trade ties,” he said. “Both neighbouring Iran and Pakistan are unique in the region and have very friendly and brotherly relations and their population constitutes a good market for the business community of the two countries,” he said. “Our future is bright after the removal of impediments. Hopefully our trade relations will continue to grow,” he said. To a question about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it was a giant project with great opportunities. “It is not only for Pakistan and China, but for all countries of the region,” he said.
Mehdi Honardoost said it was beyond any doubt that it could not only work as a game-changer for the region, but would also become a unifying force for the countries in the region.
“Our people in the region and the countries suffer a lot from tensions and conflicts between some countries, and fortunately Pakistan had (acquired) a very good position (through this project), a very good gesture regarding increasing the peace and tranquility of the region,” he said. He was confident that the completion of the CPEC would help bring in unity and consolidation by removing tensions among the conflicting countries. “Hence, we announce our official stance and position regarding the Iranian interest and willingness to come into CPEC,” he said.
He also extended Nawruz greetings to the people of Pakistan. He said it was a celebration of the arrival of spring.
About his official assignment, he said he was increasing his interactions with other departments and sectors in Pakistan to achieve better results. “I feel as if I am at home as the people here are almost the same. They have the same moods and styles, attitudes and almost the same environment,” he said.
