Iranian MP calls for freeze in aid to Pakistan

An Iranian MP has called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to freeze all financial aid to Pakistan.

"The Pakistani Intelligence Agency (ISI) is the main supporter of terrorism in the region," said Heshmatollah Falahat-Pishe, a member of Iran's Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy.

The lawmaker from the western city of Eslamabad-e Gharb said on Monday that "until Islamabad demonstrates its sincerity in controlling its borders, the country should be considered exempt from any Iranian aid."

Pakistan was due to receive about $300 million in aid from Iran, most of which was to be in the form of counter-terrorism assistance.

Iran has announced that the group which carried out Sunday's suicide strike on its Revolutionary Guard Corps was based in Pakistan and had links with the country's intelligence service.

Tehran has also demanded the extradition of Abdolmalek Rigi, the head of the terrorist Jundallah group, adding that a high-level team would travel to Islamabad to submit proof of the group's involvement in the attack that killed at least 43 people.

Jundullah, which operates in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan's Balochistan provinces, has carried out a number of attacks against high profile Iranian targets, especially the government and security officials.

An ABC News report in 2007 reported that the Jundallah terrorist group "has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials" to destabilize the government in Iran.

In another report in July, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that US Congressional leaders secretly agreed to George W. Bush's $400-million funding request last year for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran.

It is through such covert funding that under the US arms and fund terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and Jundullah. Other US intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, have their own secret and separate budgets to fund destabilizing operations against Iran and other nations that do not submit to America's will.

The group's ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi describes his terrorist cell as a 'nationalist movement' and denies any links to Washington. However, many Sunni Baluchis were among those killed in the recent terrorist attack by Rigi's followers.