Opinion | The Fire Next Door And The House Of Straw: Pakistan's Iran Dilemma |
As Iran simmers in protest and teeters on the edge of open confrontation with the West, its eastern neighbour, Pakistan, finds itself caught in a storm not of its own making, yet fully exposed to its wrath. A country already buckling under its own economic collapse, internal militancy, and confused foreign policy now finds itself nervously watching the fire next door. The irony is sharp: for a nation that has historically meddled in the affairs of its neighbours with impunity, Pakistan is now learning how destabilising proximity to crisis can be—especially when your own house is on fire.
The 900-kilometre border Pakistan shares with Iran runs through Balochistan—a province long plagued by insurgency, state violence, and a complete absence of governance. Pakistan’s security establishment has spent years trying (and largely failing) to pacify the Baloch resistance. Now, with Iranian Baloch regions also in revolt, Islamabad faces the terrifying prospect of a transnational Baloch uprising that no amount of airstrikes or enforced disappearances can contain.
Cross-border attacks have already surged. Armed groups that operate in the rugged, lawless terrain of the Iran–Pakistan frontier may soon find even more breathing space if Tehran........