25
February 2007
Trouble brewing in Iranian
Balochistan
Unlike Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, which has been receiving extensive media coverage
as a result of its uprising against the central government in recent years, Iran’s vast but sparsely populated southeastern province
of Sistan-Balochistan has long been out of media glare. This, however, seems to be changing
now with an escalating insurgency led by an obscure Baloch militant
organization called Jundollah (Soldiers of God).
Given the absence of accurate
demographic data on Iran’s ethnic
and religious minorities, it is hard to know the precise number of Iranian Balochis. According to an estimate, there are some 10-15 million Balochis residing in Pakistan,
Iran, and Afghanistan with
tribal and family lines traversing all three countries. Iran’s Baloch
population may at best be estimated at
4 million. Both Iran and
Pakistan have always viewed
Baloch national aspirations as a threat
to the stability and territorial integrity of their countries. Thus, their successive regimes have not
only collaborated in suppressing Baloch nationalism and culture but also neglected their Balochistan provinces in terms of economic development, education, and public services.
Little is known about Jundollah, which is believed to have first emerged on the scene in 2002 and is known
for bloody attacks against high-profile Iranian targets including government and security officials. Similarly, available information
on its top leader, Abdulmalek
Rigi, does not go beyond that he is
a 24-year-old bearded Iranian
Balochi. Contrary to Tehran’s
announcement in 2006 that its troops had
killed Rigi in an anti-terrorist
operation, the man appeared several days later in a video shown by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV station to deny his death.
What is confirmed, however, is that
Iran’s theological Shiite regime
is facing a growing challenge in this isolated, backward province where the great
majority of the population is Sunni. The
February 14 attack on a military bus, in which at least 11 members of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps were killed and some
30 others were injured, was only
the latest in a series of such attacks carried out by Jundollah in the last two years.
In
March 2006, the group held
up a convoy on the road between Zabol and
Zahedan and slaughtered 22 people, including officials in the provincial
administration of Sistan-Balochistan. In April, it killed
two army officers and injured
a Shiite cleric in the
province. And one month later, it shot
dead 12 Iranians on the Kerman to Bam
highway.
Earlier in 2005, Jundollah had
claimed the responsibility of the abduction
of 9 Iranian security and intelligence officers along the Pakistani
border, one of whom was executed by the group in early 2006.
The group justifies its attacks
as revenge against Iranian security forces for committing alleged genocide and atrocities
towards Sunni Baloch civilians. But the hidden goal is probably to make Balochis’ grievances and national
aspirations known to the
world, especially at this time when Tehran is pressurized
by the West and Sunni-Shiite tensions increasingly
overshadow the region as a result of developments in Iraq.
This
is despite Rigi’s denial that his
organization harbours separatist aspirations. In a rare telephone
interview last year with Rooz, an Iranian online newspaper, he declared himself
an Iranian and Iran as his home, stressed that his move
was only aimed at improving
the life of Iranian Balochis and protecting
their fundamental rights, and advocated
the federation of Iran and sovereign Baluchistan
within a democratic state.
Tehran, which does not
admit its institutionalized
distrust of minorities, including the Baloch,
and often denies ethnic and
sectarian tensions in the
country, has met the emerging
uprising in Balochistan with force. It has first blamed the
recent unrest on bandits smuggling drugs from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now it accuses Jundollah of being associated with Al-Qaeda and the
Afghan Taliban and cooperating
with the Americans to destabilize Iran,
but without presenting any credible evidence
apart from the adherence of Baloch people to conservative Sunni
Islam. Moreover, how can
one believe that the Americans are supporting and assisting a group that is allegedly affiliated
with their enemies at the
time when Tehran itself uses the same concept to deny Washington’s
accusation of Iran of sheltering senior members of Al-Qaeda, including Osama Bin Laden’s son Saad?
Observers, like independent analyst and consultant Chris Zambelis, argue that Iran’s emphasis on the alleged role of Al-Qaeda and the
Taliban in the Baloch uprising is only
aimed at showing itself as one of terrorism’s victims. And by brutally striking against Jundollah and its
followers, it may be wishing
to curry favour with the United States amidst pressure to concede on its nuclear ambitions and meddling in Iraq and Lebanon.
Academic researcher and lecturer specializing in Asian affairs