PM Shehbaz expresses grief over killing of Pakistanis in Iran

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday expressed deep grief over the killing of eight Pakistani nationals in Mehrestan, a village in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province.

According to Iranian officials, unidentified gunmen shot dead the Pakistani workers at a car repair workshop in the Meharistan district.

The prime minister expressed serious concern over the incident, calling it a cruel act of terrorism. He prayed for the victims and their bereaved families, and stressed that terrorism was a shared threat to all countries in the region.

He called for a coordinated regional strategy to combat terrorism and urged the Iranian authorities to arrest and punish the perpetrators, while also making the motive behind the attack public.

The prime minister directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reach out to the families of the victims and coordinate with Pakistan’s embassy in Iran for the repatriation of the bodies.

Meanwhile, the Iranian embassy in Islamabad strongly condemned the “inhumane and cowardly” killing. Iranian officials confirmed that all eight victims were from Bahawalpur in southern Punjab and had been staying at a local workshop in Mehrestan County.

The banned outfit Balochistan National Army (BNA) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued to the media.

Also read: Four Pakistanis killed, 2 injured by Iran forces in Balochistan

Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, also condemned the attack, calling it an “inhumane and cowardly armed incident against eight Pakistani nationals.”

“Terrorism is a chronic plight and a common threat throughout the region, through which traitorous elements, in collaboration with international terrorism, seek to destabilise the region,” the statement added.