India-Pakistan conflict dangerous for all: Iranian foreign minister

A heightened conflict between India and Pakistan is dangerous not only for the Indian subcontinent but also for the world, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said yesterday.

“We don’t want to see any hard conflict between these two nuclear powers. It is dangerous for the region, it is dangerous for the world, and it is dangerous for the Islamic Ummah. We need to work together in order to avoid that,” he said.

Pakistan and India are at row over Kashmir after India scrapped the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has vowed to fight India’s decision to revoke Indian-administered Kashmir’s autonomy, including at the UN Security Council.

Javad Zarif, who spoke to journalists on the sidelines of Indian Ocean Rim Association’s (IORA) third ministerial conference, told a group of journalists at the InterContinental Dhaka hotel that Iran is concerned over the tense situation in Kashmir. 

He also said he is concerned about the recent developments in Assam, which has published its final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC) that excluded some 1.9 million Bangla-speaking people.

“We have very good relations with India. It is a very important trade partner. But we have expressed the concerns over the tense situation in Kashmir,” he said, adding that they are engaged in discussions with India to ensure that rights of Kashmiris are recognised.

“We are also discussing with Pakistan and other OIC [Organisation of Islamic Conference] member states on the kind of joint actions that can be taken to prevent further deterioration of situation in Kashmir,” Zarif said.

He said he is hopeful that the discussion will lead to more dialogue and understanding.

Zarif also said Iran is in favour of addressing the Rohingya crisis through a dignified repatriation process, which is only possible if Myanmar grants citizenship to the Rohingyas.

Zarif, who also called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, said Bangladesh and Iran have huge potentials in cooperation, including in science and technology, pharmaceutical industries, nanotech, energy, aerospace technology, nuclear power and petrochemicals. 

The annual trade between the two countries now stands at USD 130 million, which the Iranian foreign minister says, is only a fraction of the potentials.

The US sanction on Iran is negatively affecting the trade -- not only of Iran but also of other countries having trade relations with the country, he said.

As an innovative way of addressing such problems, Zarif suggested reforms in banking system of the trading countries.

“The most important restriction is when you use money across the border. If we use your currency in order to buy goods from you and you use our currency in order to buy goods from us, then it will be a totally different scenario. It requires banking innovation,” he said.