This policy is pursued consistently in Baluchistan although it has never stopped opposition and more demand for the legitimate rights for citizens. Equal opportunity and access to the facilities and possibilities that are provided by other governments in different parts of the world are what Baloch people want. The Islamic regime hanged 13 young Baluch political activists on 14 July to generate a sense of fear among the public. The Baluch people have been the vanguards of political campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran that conducted the biggest fraud in election in the history of Iran and the world. The resistance of Baluch people became a great source of inspiration for other people of Iran to express their discontent about the fraudulent elections and other injustices in form of demonstrations and huge marches.
More than one million people turned up only in Tehran in more than three occasions at least within a month. These mass demonstrations against the regime indicate the depth of descent and discontent among the people. While the focus was on Tehran in the days after the elections, demonstrations spread all over the country and especially in Baluchistan. The governments began their ruthless attack on two bases of the Baluch fighters in Baluchistan just after the elections to force the Baluch fighters to focus themselves on defending their bases and not being able to lead civil campaigns in the rest of the country.
At the same time, the government of Pakistan extradited one Baluch that was in the prison for some time to the Iranian regime, knowing that he will be tortured and executed as the cases of some other prisoners have proved. The Pakistan governments under Musharaf extradited a group of Baluch opposition to the governments of Iran and all of them were tortured and executed later. This is clearly against the UN conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nobody must be extradited to his country of origin if his life becomes in danger.
The Baluch people are Sunnis and they have been subjected to different discriminatory policies. Baluchistan has the highest poverty rate and according to all international and United Nations researches, is the poorest province of Iran. According to official figures poverty rate in Baluchistan is over 76 percent. The Baluch students are not admitted into universities on an equal basis and on their merits. While the Islamic Republic of Iran has given more than a million scholarships to Iranian students to study abroad or the top Iranian universities, only three Baluch students have been awarded scholarships.
The Baluch people are under daily threat and a security environment has been imposed in Baluchistan. Everybody is a suspect and the security guards shoot the Baluch people with total impunity. Although hundreds of Baluch people have been killed in the streets of Iran, not even one single agent has been tried in the court.
The three young Baluch who will be hanged very soon are innocent people who have not participated in any kind of violent activities. Baluchistan is a tribal area and the citizens are not protected by law or the government and therefore, they have to rely on their families and tribal relationships to protect each other. As a result of instability and insecurity in Baluchistan which has been created by the government, tribal and family connections have been reinforced and whenever one single person is executed, dozens of his relatives and tribal members join the line of activists. Some of them join civil campaigning and others join armed struggle. The People’s Resistance movement of Iran, Jondollah, is the product of such policies in Baluchistan.
Civil and peaceful campaigning is barred in Baluchistan and everybody who engages in cultural or political activities will be treated as a criminal. With the present situation that President Ahmadinejad has not been recognized as the official president of Iran by the majority of people, the regime has no other alternative but to widen the scope of repression and oppression. Since the Baluch are Sunnis, they seem to be more vulnerable and therefore they need more support by the international community; specifically now that the executions in Baluchistan are usually covered and only a very small fraction of them find their way in the media.
Baluchistan is the vanguards of freedom seeking people of Iran and will never stop its campaigning until a democratic regime is established in Iran.
London, 23.7.09
