Pakistan's civil-military leadership holds high-level meeting amid tension with Iran

Pakistan's civil-military leadership held a high-level consultative meeting on Friday to discuss the ongoing tiff with Iran as the two neighbours made amends to repair the frayed ties following their military strikes in each other's territory. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar presided over the meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) while services chiefs, cabinet ministers, and other officials were in attendance, sources said.

"The NSC meeting has started and is currently underway," a source said.

The officials from the defence and foreign ministries will brief the meeting about the attack by Iran and counter charge by Pakistan armed forces, sources said.


It is said the NSC is likely to give guidelines for future ties with Iran.

Kakar had rushed back home on Thursday night from Davos, where he had gone to attend the World Economic Forum event after Pakistan and Iran carried out military strikes against each other.

Pakistan conducted "precision military strikes" against what it called "terrorist hideouts" in Iran's Siestan-Balochistan province that killed 9 people on Thursday. The attack was seen as retaliation to Iranian missile and drone attacks on Tuesday, which targeted two bases of the Sunni Baloch militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Before the meeting, Foreign Ministers of Pakistan Jalil Abbas Jilani and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian agreed to the spirit of "mutual trust and cooperation" and the need for closer cooperation on security issues during a telephone talk.

The NSC meeting will be followed by a federal cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.