ISLAMABAD: Pakistan warned India on Friday against using a six-month sanctions waiver granted by the United States to operate Iran’s Chabahar Port — a key trade route to Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan — to promote cross-border militancy in the restive, southwestern Balochistan province.

India signed a 10-year contract with Iran last year to develop and operate the port and this month stepped up its engagement with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan by reopening its embassy in Kabul, which was closed after the Afghan group seized power in 2021. The port on Iran’s southeastern Gulf of Oman coast was initially planned with a rail link to Afghanistan to help build the landlocked country’s economy through trade and reduce Kabul’s dependence on Pakistani ports.

The waiver was announced by Indian authorities after Washington said it was seeking to reach a broader trade deal with New Delhi following earlier tariff disputes under the administration of President Donald Trump.

Addressing his weekly news conference, foreign office spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan had taken note of the development.

“First of all, let me make one point clear. We welcome any decision that leads to the economic development and improvement of trade and business prospects in our brotherly country of Iran,” he said, adding that it was Washington’s sovereign decision to grant the waiver as the country that had originally imposed sanctions.

“We would warn India to not use or abuse this opening to promote terrorism, subversion, particularly the terrorism and subversion of Fitnah Al-Hindustan, into Pakistan through the adjacent borders,” he continued, referring to separatist groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). “India has promoted cross-border terrorism from this area into Pakistan in the past. It must desist in doing so in the future.”

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but poorest province, has long been plagued by an insurgency that has intensified in recent months, with separatist militants increasingly targeting security personnel, government officials, infrastructure, and non-local residents.

The province is strategically significant for its vast mineral wealth and as a transit hub for the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Islamabad accuses India of backing anti-Pakistan militant factions operating from the region, a charge New Delhi denies.
Andrabi said Pakistan had taken notice of an ongoing military exercise by Indian forces near the border, adding that Pakistan’s military was keeping a close watch.

“Any misadventure by India will be tackled with a quid pro quo-plus response,” he warned. “We have assured it before and we can assure it again.”

The two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbors fought a brief but intense war earlier this year in May, involving missile, drone, and artillery exchanges, before a ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump on May 10.

With input from Reuters