Iran hands over evidence regarding Sistan blast to Pakistan - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Iran's Ambassador to Pakistan Mashallah Shakiri has said that his country has handed over evidence regarding the devastating Sistan bomb blast, in which 42 persons were killed, to Pakistan, and is waiting for a reply. Interacting with media persons at the Karachi Press Club, Shakiri said Tehran has provided evidences pertaining to the bomb blast and is waiting for Islamabad's answers for future course of action, The Nation reports. Responding to a query regarding Iran sealing its border with Pakistan following the blast, he said such reports were baseless, as authorities had only decided to beef-up the security along the border and not seal the passage between both the nations. Iran has been blaming Pakistan for the attack on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRG) in which 42 people were killed, saying there is specific information that the perpetrators were hiding inside Pakistan and has asked Islamabad to 'clarify' its stance over reports regarding its links banned terror group, Jondollah. Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had also said that the Sunni rebel group, which carried out a deadly bombing, was based in Pakistan. "This terrorist grouplet has links with intelligence services which are based in the region, including in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Mottaki said. It is worth mentioning here that a hardcore Islamic terror group, Jondollah, had taken the responsibility for the attack. Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has asked Islamabad to 'clarify' its stance over reports regarding its links with Jondollah. Moslehi alleged that Pakistan's premier intelligene agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has close links with Jondollah. Pakistan, however, has dismissed all allegations of supporting the terror group, saying the terror attack was aimed at spoiling ties with Tehran. "There are forces which are out to spoil our relations with Iran. But our ties are strong enough to counter these machinations," Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Abdul Basit said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has already asked the Pakistan Government to quickly apprehend and hand over 'some security agents' to Tehran who were reportedly involved in the attack on the Revolutionary Guards. "We were informed that some security agents in Pakistan are cooperating with the main elements of this terrorist incident... We regard it as our right to demand these criminals from them,' Ahmadinejad had said earlier. According to a television reports, Iran's Foreign Ministry had summoned a senior Pakistani diplomat in Tehran, saying there was evidence 'the perpetrators of the attack came to Iran from Pakistan.'