On April 22, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Islamabad, starting a three-day official visit to Pakistan, aiming to further strengthen bilateral relations.
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| Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrives in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on April 22. (Source: AP) |
President Raisi is expected to meet with host Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials, Arab News reported. Raisi will also travel to the eastern city of Lahore and the southern port city of Karachi.
To ensure security for the Iranian President's visit, Pakistani authorities have increased police deployment and blocked many roads in Islamabad.
Throughout the history of relations between Iran and Pakistan, the two countries have had many differences and confrontations despite trade links and many bilateral agreements.
The most notable bilateral agreement between the two countries is the pipeline project to transport gas from the South Fars field in Iran to Pakistan's southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, which was signed in 2010 but has been stalled until now.
The visit comes as the two neighboring Muslim countries seek to mend ties after attacks on sites in each other's countries in January, the Pakistani Foreign Minister's office said.
At that time, Tehran announced that it had attacked the headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl group in Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan with "missiles and drones" on January 16, in "response to the aggression against national security".
Pakistan has condemned Iran's airspace violation, recalled its ambassador to Tehran and barred the neighboring country's envoy from returning to Islamabad.
Then, on January 18, Islamabad launched a series of "precise, targeted and closely coordinated" military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Iran's Siestan-o-Baluchistan province, but asserted "full respect" for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the "brotherly nation".
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