Pakistan’s Prime Minister is set to convene an emergency security meeting on Friday, bringing together military and intelligence leaders to address the recent exchange of deadly airstrikes with Iran in the Baluchistan border region. These unusual military actions have heightened regional tensions, coinciding with the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The sequence of events began with Iran launching a missile and drone attack on what it labeled as “terrorist” targets in Pakistan on Tuesday night. In response, Pakistan conducted airstrikes on militant targets inside Iran on Thursday. The situation has led to a diplomatic fallout, with Pakistan recalling its ambassador from Tehran and blocking the return of Iran’s envoy to Islamabad, who was on a visit home.
Both the United Nations and the United States have urged restraint, and China has offered to mediate in an attempt to defuse the escalating tensions.
A spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s office confirmed the summoning of a National Security Committee meeting, scheduled for today. The Chief of Army Staff and the head of intelligence services are expected to attend the mid-afternoon session.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in the wake of the airstrikes. The caretaker government, under Kakar’s leadership, is steering Pakistan toward general elections just three weeks away, but the electoral process has been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging.
Both Tehran and Islamabad have asserted that the airstrikes targeted domestic militants taking refuge on foreign soil.