Iran-Pakistan barrier
Encyclopedia
Separation barrier
A separation barrier is a wall or fence constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate two populations. These structures vary in placement with regard to international borders and topography...
which Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
has building along its border with Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
replacing an intermittent tattered border fence. The 3 ft (91,4 cm) thick and 10 ft (3,048 m) high concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
wall, fortified with steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
rods, will span the 700 km frontier stretching from Taftan
Taftan (Balochistan)
Taftan is a town located in Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan.It is Pakistan's only legal official border crossing into Iran and famed by locals as the "road to London" because it is a famous smuggling route.Over 600 km from Quetta, getting to Taftan is a journey of almost 12 hours of...
to Mand
Mand
Mand may refer to:*Mand, a Jat clan from Punjab, India*Mand , term for a verbal operant, introduced by B.F. Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior*Mánd, a village in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, Hungary...
. The project will include large earth and stone embankments and deep ditches to deter illegal crossings and drug smuggling into Iran. The border region is already dotted with police observation towers and fortress-style garrisons for troops. Iran and Pakistan do not have border disputes or other irredentist claims and Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has stated, "Pakistan has no reservation because Iran is constructing the fence on its territory."
Pakistani Surveyor General CM Aslam right receiving the Nishan-e-Humayun from the Shah of Iran on the conclusion of the demarcation of the Pak-Iran border
History and stated purpose
The wall is being constructed to stop illegal border crossings and stem the flow of drugs, and is also a response to recent terror attacks, notably the one in the Iranian border town of ZahedanZahedan
Zahedan is a city in and the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 552,706, in 109,488 families.-Geography:...
on February 17, 2007, which killed thirteen people, including nine Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials. However Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam denied any link between the fence and the bomb blast, saying that Iran was not blaming these incidents on Pakistan.
Reactions to the wall
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry has said that Iran has the right to erect border fencing in its territory. However, opposition to the construction of the wall was raised in the Provincial Assembly of BalochistanProvincial Assembly of Balochistan
The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan is one of the four provincial assemblies of Pakistan, and the seat of the Government of Balochistan. The Balochistan assembly is the unicameral legislature of the province of Balochistan. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of the Pakistan...
. It maintained that the wall would create problems for the Baloch people
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....
whose lands straddle the border region. The community would become divided politically and socially, with their trade and social activities being seriously impeded. Leader of the Opposition Kachkol Ali said the governments of the two countries had not taken the Baloch into their confidence on this matter, demanded that the construction of the wall be stopped immediately, and appealed to the international community
International community
The international community is a term used in international relations to refer to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world or to a group of them. The term is used to imply the existence of common duties and obligations between them...
to help the Baloch people.
Iranian border security forces gave an ultimatum to the residents of a Pakistani border town to vacate the town within 10 days. Residents of the Sorap locality in the Mand
Mand
Mand may refer to:*Mand, a Jat clan from Punjab, India*Mand , term for a verbal operant, introduced by B.F. Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior*Mánd, a village in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, Hungary...
area of western Mekran region in Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
province rely on edible goods illegally coming from Iran for their livelihood.
See also
- 2007 Zahedan bombings2007 Zahedan bombingsThe 2007 Zahedan bombings occurred from 14-17 February in Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iran. While Jundallah claimed responsibility, the Iranian government has accused the governments of Pakistan and the United States of complicity. The first bombing occurred at 6:30 a.m...
- Durrand Line - A border concerning the division of Pashtun and Baloch Ethnic groups between Pakistan and Afghanistan
External links
- Pakistan backs Iran's border fencing, (29 May, 2007)
- Iran to wall off Baluchistan border, Al JazeeraAl JazeeraAl Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
- ’بلوچوں کوتقسیم کیاجا رہا ہے‘, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...