Reza Hossein Borr
When the Islamic Republic of Iran hanged two Sunni Baluch leaders in the morning of 9 April 08, the Baluch people knew that a new era has began in the relationship between the Shia fundamentalist regime of Iran and the rising Sunni Baluch people. As the Baluch culture requires, the Baluch people offered plenty of advice to the regime to stop its atrocities in Baluchistan and if they did not, then, they would face severe consequences. As usual, the Iranian regime underestimated the inner strength of the Baluch people and continued the execution and hanging of Baluch people. Now a widespread military movement has began in Baluchistan that goes far beyond the borders of Baluchistan, well into the heart of the country, in the cities of Shiraz and Kashan in the middle of the country.
From time immemorial the Baluch people have always used wisdom of negotiation for resolving their disputes with their neighbours and enemies. Most of the time the wisdom of negotiation succeeded and when it did not succeed, it was usually when the other side assumed itself as superior in finance, arms and army. But the Baluch people never counted much on finances, arms or armies; as they relied most of the time on their courage, resilience, toughness, tactical and strategic manoeuvring of power. They always knew that the arms will be finished, the armies would be broken and their finances would run out. What remains, they thought was human dignity that manifested unlimited resilience. There were many times that they were temporarily flat on the ground but they never allowed the idea of defeat to overshadow their inspiring dignity for life building freedom.
The love for freedom in the Baluch people has been so deep that they were prepared to make everything else subordinate to it. Freedom first they thought, the rest must follow. Freedom is the supreme value of the Baluch people. It is not something that they can trade with anything else. But at the same time, because they are honest people, they get cheated time to time as they were cheated by the founders of Pakistan when they were brought to this conclusion that the union with Pakistan is for their best interest. They never knew that there were leaders who can be so mean to deceive the other side. Today they realised that they have been cheated for being honest as they extended their idea honesty to some people who proved to be by nature dishonest. They are paying the price for that but there will come one day when they will regain what they have lost because of honesty. If honesty pays, they will get their land one day soon.
As the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenaei, had lived in Baluchistan for many years, he happened to know a lot of Baluch people. The Baluch people look very ordinary. They do not engage in boasting and bluffing. They do not get involved in praising the authorities. They want their own free lives, free of influence of authorities. Khamenaei of course could not understand the psychology of the people that have simple lives and complicated culture and history. He thought that he knew the Baluch people and therefore, he thought that he can eradicate them quite easily. What he didn't know was that the Baluch people were products of toughest conditions that could have destroyed many societies.
It was his orders that the two religious leaders of Baluchistan shall be hanged to make example of them. In fact, in a few days they became example of a struggle that has caused immense embarrassment for the Iranian regime.
Four days after the hanging of the two religious leaders, on13 April 08, a huge bomb destroyed a religious conference hall in Shiraz in which at least 12 people were killed and more than 200 people were injured. The embarrassed authorities claimed that the explosion was caused by the storage of some mines from an exhibition which was held few years ago. The leader of this place rejected this claim and said that the exhibition place was intact and it was not the cause of the explosion. He claimed the explosion was so strong that it removed a large part of the hall and threw it about 100 meters away. (1) To cover their inefficiencies for protecting the hall, the security forces tried to put together some excuses which did not convince anybody.
The Shiraz fire brigade announced that they investigated the matter very carefully and concluded a bomb destroyed the centre that has been turned into a centre of promoting hatred and conflict among the ordinarily Shia people against the Sunnis and other religions. (2) The leader of the centre was a capable orator that could attract 3 to 4 thousand people on Saturday evenings. The focus of his preaching was the justification of elimination of Sunnis. The centre was financed by the security forces and the office of the supreme leader. It was an official centre that promoted hatred against Sunnis in a province which had a large number of Sunni populations.
One day after that, on 14 April 08, mob burned alive a Bahai in Shiraz but the regime did cover it. Shiraz is also the birthplace of the Iranian prophet Bahaollah and therefore, he has some followers in the city. Bahais of Shiraz have been the subject of cruel treatment since the revolution.
Three days later, on the 16th of April, a new organization, Sunni Jehadi Movement, took the responsibility for the explosion of bomb in Shiraz and claimed that it has acted in revenge for the killing of the two religious Sunni leaders of Baluchistan.
They warned the regime that they have the capability of acting all over Iran if the government did not stop oppressing the Sunni people. They did not publish any new statement after that. But another Baluch Group, Forghan, who had several confrontations with the Iranian regime, also indicated indirectly that it has planted the bomb. (3)
As the regime was trying to confuse the public about the source explosion in Shiraz, the Iranian Press news announced that the Shia religious leader of Fahraj, a Sunni city in Kerman Province, has been abducted on 22 April 08 by the People's Resistance Movement of Iran, Jondollah.
A weblog of which is closely related to Jondollah announced that in an armed clash that the Jondollah had with the Iranian security forces, 15 members of the guard have been killed near Zahidan when they were transferring the Fahraj religious leader to their bases. It also said that Jondollah has been capable of moving the religious leader from Kerman province into the mountains of Baluchistan. The statement said that he may be hanged in revenge for the hanging of two Sunni religious leaders.(4)
At the same time some other armed groups in Baluchistan began their armed struggle against the government. The regime did not give the fatalities of their own side. But to create more fear in the Baluch people, they hanged four innocent Baluch in Kerman and killed 4 Baloch on 26 April 08 in Balochistan. (5)
According to the sources of the Iranian regime, there are more than one hundred armed groups in Baluchistan. This shows the depth and breadth of discontent in Baluchistan. In spite of the killings of the Baluch people, the number of organised armed groups is growing. They learn from their mistakes and become extremely complicated in their tactics and strategies.
The Iranian media announced on 26 of April that another Shia religious leader, HojatoslIslam Bejari, has been shot by the Baluch armed groups in Zahedan. Although he did not die in the incident, it created immence fear among the Shia religious leaders in Baluchistan. They immediately demanded a meeting with the governor of the province and asked for more security.(6)
The fear among the Shia radicals and agents of the regime intensified when another Baluch warrior Dorra Khan began his war against the regime by arresting four Shia clerics who had close contacts with the security forces. It was announced that he had captured such one cleric from Kashan, centre of Iran and transferred him to Baluchistan. Kashan is hundreds of km away from Baluchistan. He captured one cleric from Kerman, one from Zahedan and one from Sarawan. It seems that he has a huge operational capability that can act in such a short time in such a wide area not only in Baluchistan but in the whole country. (7)
While the operations of the security forces continued to expand around Zahedan after their unsuccessful attack on the fighters of Abdolmalek Rigi on 27th of April 08, the news of an armed conflict in Sarawan was spread on 30 April 08. It was reported the five security forces were killed and one Baluch fighter was slightly injured. It is likely that some of the security forces were captured by the Baluch forces. In the meantime, yesterday, 29 of April, Mohammad Mehdi Afras, Deputy Manager of OIL Comany was attacked by two young Baluch in Zahedan. He was taken into hospital.
The elite security guards in Baluchistan that have proved their inefficiencies in quelling insurgency in Baluchistan began arresting innocent people in Zahedan and other main cities of Baluchistan. According to some reports, hundreds of young men have disappeared. Zahedan, the capital of Baluchistan, looks like a military garrison. Security forces could be seen everywhere and yet, in one corner of the city, confrontation between the Baluch fighters and the security forces suddenly erupts. This is the nature of people’s war. Nobody knows who is a fighter.
The arbitrarily execution of the Baluch people and regime's destructive policies in the region has created a people's war in Baluchistan in which every Baluch can become a soldier. The Baluch people are fighters by nature. None of the top fighters of Baluchistan have received any official training in guerrilla wars but yet, Abdol Malek Rigi, the leader of People's Resistance Movement of Iran has achieved 100% success in his military operations.
Everybody who has underestimated the unlimited strength and power of the Baluch people has faced fatal consequences. Among the first cases is when Esfandyaar, the son of the king of Parsia, underestimated the strength and wisdom of Rostam, the great legendary hero of Central Asia and India. As was the tradition of the Baluch culture at that time and it is the tradition of code of honour of the Baluch today, Rostam advised Esfandyaar to return back to the capital and avoid confrontation with him. Esfandyaar who was a great warrior thought that he can take on the Baloch man, the greatest and the most powerful warrior of all times, Rostam. Ferdowsi, in his Book of Kings describes the confrontation between the two men with great details and shows how Rostam used his fair and just attitude and advised Esfandyaar to go away; and when he refused, the battle between the two began and ended in the death of Esfandyaar.
Ferdowsi also narrated how later the great king of Sassanid dynasty, Ardashir, fought the Baluch people and how he was defeated by the Baluch people. After him, Anoushirwan followed his mission and massacred a large number of Baluch people but the Baluch people rose again from their ashes and began fighting the successors of Anoushirwan and defeated them.
During the Arab invasion of Iran, the Arabs defeated Persian army regularly but when they faced the Baluch they were defeated. The commander of the Arab army contacted Omar, the second Caliph and reported that they couldn't defeat the Baluch and it is better to enter with them in agreement. Omar ordered negotiations with the Baluch people and signed an agreement which is still exists and Malekolshouraye Bahar has written in detail about this confrontation and agreement.
200 years after the occupation of Iran by the Arabs, it was Yaqoub Leith, a successor of Rostam Baluch that defeated the Caliph of Baghdad and announced the independence of Iran for the first time after Arab invasion. There are hundreds of other examples of how the ruthless rulers of the region have tried to subjugate the Baluch people but they have failed.
When the Baluch people rise, they begin people’s war against the enemy. Every Baluch turns into a soldier and every soldier can handle dozens of the soldiers of the enemy as the Baluch soldiers fight for their survival and the enemy's soldier’s fight as mercenaries.
Today is the beginning. The Iranian regime would use its most ruthless operations in Baluchistan. They will kill a lot of innocent people but for every person that dies hundreds will rise. Nobody has benefited from the war with the Baluch and Islamic Republic of Iran will not benefit either. This is the people with the most resilient sense in their minds and bodies. They strive in the war.
Reza Hossein Borr is a leadership consultant and the creator of 150 CDs and 14 Change management models. He is also the author of Manual Success, Manual of Coaching and Mentoring, Motivational Stories that Can Change Your Life, and a New Vision for the Islamic World. He can be contacted by email: balochfront@aol.com
Footnotes
1. http://www.tiknews.net/display/?ID=59617&page=1,,,28.4.08???????? ?????? 1.
2. <http://www.tiknews.net/files/2128535194??????.jpg>
3. ttp://taftaan.blogsky.com/?PostID=1881
4. http://taftaan.blogsky.com/?PostID=353,,26.4.08
5. http://www2.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-155/8702037440170110.htm
6. http://www.rasanews.com/Negaresh_site/FullStory/?Id=29945
7.http://mybalochistan.page.tl/140.htm,30.4.08 |
