Pak Army chief assures Iran of unaffected bilateral ties

The Pakistan Army has assured Iran that its bilateral ties with Islamabad would remain unaffected.

The assurance was made by Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa during his meeting with Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost at the General Headquarters on Wednesday.

This is the second meeting between the two in around six weeks.

"Pakistan greatly values historic Pak-Iran relationship and the same shall continue based on mutual trust and respect for each other's interests," the Dawn quoted General Bajwa as saying to Honardoost.

The Iran embassy had last week warned Pakistan against a "vilification campaign" launched against it on the basis of allegations made by Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch that Tehran's intelligence agencies had links with him.

Uzair is reportedly accused of sharing sensitive information with Iranian intelligence.

The Iranian embassy said that the campaign was aimed at damaging public opinion about Iran and would be taken as "contrary to the spirit of friendship and brotherhood between the two nations".

Pakistan has also blamed Iran for the stay of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav in Chahbahar before his capture in Balochistan.

Iran had also expressed its reservations about retired General Raheel Sharif being named as top commander of the alliance, which is now taking shape.

The meeting came at a time amid reports that Pakistan is considering the deployment of 5,000 troops in Saudi Arabia.