The recent killing of eight Pakistani nationals in southeastern Iran has reignited tensions between Islamabad and Tehran, while also raising uncomfortable and long-overdue questions about irregular labor migration, human trafficking, and the vulnerability of marginalized workers. The victims—motor mechanics reportedly working in the Iranian border town of Hizabad-e-Paeen in Mehrestan district—were bound and executed by unidentified assailants in the early hours of April 12, 2025. The chilling brutality of the attack, and the fact that all the deceased were from Pakistan, has placed the fragile Iran-Pakistan relationship under renewed strain.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the attack, labeling it a “criminal act” that violates Islamic principles and humanitarian norms. However, for many in Pakistan, condemnation is not enough. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on Tehran to ensure justice for the victims, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it had reached out to Iranian officials for further details. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, stated that his mission is coordinating closely with Iranian authorities to ensure a swift and credible investigation.
Iran’s Sistan-and-Baluchestan province, where the killings took place, is one of the most volatile regions in the country, marked by tribal unrest, sectarian violence, and a long history of cross-border crime. While Iran has tried to assert control, the porous border with Pakistan and Afghanistan has made it a playground for drug smugglers, militant groups, and human traffickers. In this complex terrain, economic migrants and undocumented workers often become invisible victims—trapped between poverty at home and the false promise of a better future abroad.
Beyond the immediate need for justice lies a deeper, more unsettling issue: Why were these Pakistani men working in Iran’s Mehrestan district to begin with? Who facilitated their travel, employment, and stay in a high-risk region known for violence, smuggling, and lawlessness?
This question needs to be raised at all platforms. Were these men legally employed at an Iranian business? Did Pakistan’s Protectorate of Emigrants authorize their labor permits? If not, does this point to something more sinister—a possible network of human smuggling using southeastern Iran as a transit hub for illegal migration to Europe, especially involving desperate young men from Punjab? The pattern fits the disturbing accounts of numerous Pakistani nationals being trafficked through Iran, often promised safe passage to Europe but instead exploited, detained, or abandoned along the way.
There are growing concerns that these men may have been caught in such a web, harbored by smugglers or even unscrupulous Iranian employers in exchange for food and shelter, and exploited as free or low-paid labor. What if elements within Iran, in collusion with human smuggling syndicates operating from Pakistan, are using vulnerable migrants as transit labor, putting them to work under the radar while they await passage to Europe? If this is true, then this is not just a human tragedy but a systemic exploitation that needs to be exposed and dismantled with full cooperation between the two countries.
This incident adds yet another layer to the increasingly complex relationship between Iran and Pakistan. While they have historically maintained cordial ties as neighbors and fellow Muslim-majority nations, tensions have been growing. Border skirmishes, counterterrorism disagreements, and diverging regional alliances—particularly Iran’s closeness to India and Pakistan’s alignment with Gulf states—have complicated diplomatic relations.
A significant source of tension has been India’s investment in Iran’s Chabahar Port, which Pakistan views with suspicion. Chabahar, often seen as a rival to Pakistan’s China-backed Gwadar Port, has strategic implications. Islamabad has long accused India of using Iranian territory for espionage and destabilization, especially after the 2016 arrest of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was accused of entering Balochistan from Iran to carry out subversive activities. Although Iran distanced itself from the incident, it intensified Pakistan’s fears of external manipulation using Iran as a base.
From the Iranian perspective, there has also been frustration over Pakistan’s inability—or unwillingness—to crack down on militant groups that target Iranian security forces from across the border. Sunni militant outfits such as Jaish al-Adl have repeatedly attacked Iranian targets in Sistan-and-Baluchestan and are believed by Tehran to be based in or receiving support from within Pakistan. These mutual suspicions have, at times, spilled over into direct military actions, including tit-for-tat strikes along the border earlier this year, which were only defused through high-level diplomatic engagement.
In the current case, Iran’s commitment to a credible investigation will be key in determining how this tragedy affects bilateral relations. For Pakistan, the priority is justice for its citizens and assurance that their lives were not taken due to negligence, exploitation, or worse, official complicity. Tehran must cooperate fully and transparently, not only to identify and punish the killers, but also to clarify the legal status and employment conditions of the deceased Pakistanis.
Equally, Pakistan must confront its own internal weaknesses in regulating labor migration. There must be an inquiry into whether the men traveled through legal channels, and whether any recruitment agents, smugglers, or immigration officials facilitated their illegal movement. The Protector of Emigrants must answer: Were these men listed in any labor documentation? If not, how did they end up hundreds of kilometers inside Iran? Without systemic reforms and accountability, more lives will be lost to this dangerous underground migration route.
This is a time for cooperation, not confrontation. A joint task force between Iranian and Pakistani authorities—focused on dismantling human trafficking networks, protecting migrant workers, and strengthening border surveillance—could turn this tragedy into a moment of overdue reform. Human lives should never be the currency of regional rivalries or the collateral damage of systemic failures.
The killing of these eight men must not fade into the usual fog of uninvestigated violence. It must become a case study in how both nations handle justice, labor rights, and transnational crime. Iran and Pakistan, bound by geography and history, must now also be bound by a shared responsibility to protect the most vulnerable among them.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Coverpage’s editorial stance.
