QUETTA: Iranian authorities have closed the zero point along the Pak-Iran border following a bomb explosion in a mosque in the border city of Zahedan.

The closure of the zero point has resulted in suspension of bilateral trade and movement of the people. Zahedan is about 80 km from Taftan, a tiny town along the Pak-Iran border.People in the border areas of Pakistan and Iran are facing difficulties due to the closure of the zero point, as they bring items of daily use from Iran and Pakistan.

They demanded of the Pakistani authorities to find a permanent solution to the problem. — PPI Mariana Baabar adds from Islamabad: Pakistan says that it is with Iran in the fight against terrorism and there will be no compromise on this principle under any circumstances.

Responding to a query pertaining to the summoning of Pakistan’s Ambassador in Tehran, MB Abbasi, over the deadly attack on a mosque in southeast Iran, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The News: “Iran is our brotherly country with which we have excellent relations anchored in common faith and interests. The two countries are together in the fight against terrorism and there will be no compromise in this regard under any circumstances.”

According to the Iranian media, rebels had reportedly claimed responsibility for the explosion. One cannot remember the last time that Iran had to summon a Pakistani ambassador and that too over such serious charges.

Of late, relations between Iran and Pakistan have been all time high and only recently the two, in total defiance of the US and some other western powers, also reached an understanding on the Peace Gas Pipeline project during President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visit to Tehran.

Iran on Saturday publicly hung three men accused of involvement in the bombing of the mosque that killed 25 people, an official said, branding them “terrorists” and “enemies of God”.

The executions were carried out near the mosque in southeast Iran, which was devastated by Thursday’s bombing, said Hojatoeslam Ebrahim Hamidi, Justice Chief of Sistan-Balochistan province.

It is well known in all world capitals that Jundullah, also known as “Army of God”, “Allah’s Soldiers”, and “God’s Brigade”, as well as the Popular Iranian Resistance Movement, is a Suuni tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran.

According to US media reports from the ABC News, it is made of members of the Balochi tribe and operates out of the Balochistan province in Pakistan, just across Iran’s border.In the past The News had published reports about this terrorist group, which had been ignored by the US and Pakistan.

These reports spoke of the State Department’s allocation of millions of dollars for a ‘regime’ change in Iran. Jundullah is accused of doing exactly that, though on Saturday Washington denied Tehran’s accusations that the US had backed the mosque attack.

Questions were also raised in the past when Iran started to build walls and fence off areas along the Pakistan border that Islamabad should not look away from the activities of Jundullah. However, Pakistan has always denied that such activities take place from its soil.

Even on Sunday, the spokesman made no mention of any feedback that the Foreign Office had received from its mission in Iran, and whether in the face of such serious accusations it was willing to look into its border areas with Iran. It is not a new development that a neighbour has eyed Pakistan with some suspicion.

Earlier this year, China, too, had sent two special envoys to Pakistan, who met with the political and military leadership, and brought to the notice of Pakistan that the headquarters of the separatist group, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a militant Muslim separatist group based in the western Xinjiang province, had been set up in Fata.