KARACHI: Business and travel at the Pakistan-Iran border continued as usual on Friday despite an exchange of air strikes between the two countries against what they called militant hideouts, traders and locals said, amid attempts to deescalate tensions.
Iran this week conducted an airstrike against alleged militant bases in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. Islamabad said the strike killed two children in a border village.
In a tit-for-tat move, the Pakistan military on Thursday launched multiple strikes in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, raising an alarm about a wider conflict in the region.
Pakistan’s stock market, which initially reacted negatively to Thursday’s strikes by Islamabad, showed signs of recovery, and business and the flow of pilgrims continued as usual at the border between the two countries on Friday.
Hajji Abdullah Achakzai, president of the Quetta Chambers of Commerce and Industry (QCCI), said the trade flow at the border…