The Baloch National Question in Iran: Problems and prospects

By: Nasser Boledai Spokesman Balochistan Peoples Party

Presented at----------------------------------- on -------------2004

Introduction

Balochistan, “the country of the Baloch” is presently form part of three territorial states of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan[1]. The country strategically situated at the eastern flank of the Middle East, linking Central Asian states with the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Ocean. The Baloch land in all practical and strategic purpose has served as a buffer zone between ancient empires and during last few centuries between the Russian possession in central Asia and British India. The country has been a trade route for ancient peoples of central Asia and India and the Middle East.

The present day Balochistan subjugated by three countries of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan is being deprived of basic socio-cultural and political rights of its people. These states are basically being governed not by civilized rule of political and cultural behaviour but mostly in the name of religion distorting facts of history and denying the national minorities their minimum political and cultural rights allowed by the various conventions of United Nations.

Devolution of power constitutes one of the important elements of good governance. Many enlightened countries have undertaken radical decentralization which has broadened the base of decision making, and have taken power down to the lowest possible level. Some of these established democratic federal republics are amongst the most successful countries in the world, for instance Switzerland, United States of America, Germany and India. These countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran are denying even the minimum political authority to the Baloch in managing their affairs in local or grass roots level. Although Persian is the largest national group, they do not constitute the majority of population in Iran. Iran as a multinational country can not ignore the aspiration of the majority.

Since Balochistan Peoples party support a multi-national state and are committed to a peaceful resolution of conflict, by taking into consideration the history and tradition of the Baloch people, we have formulated a federal liberal democratic program which satisfies our nation’s aspiration for a dignified life without marginalisation and discrimination yet provides satisfactory mechanisms for a peaceful co-existence of nations within the present boundaries of Iran.

While discussing the overall situation social, cultural, political, geographical and strategic in brief of the entire Balochistan as one entity, this paper focuses on the issues and problems facing the Iranian Balochistan and its relations with Iranian government and the Baloch struggle in perspective. This paper would also discuss in brief the minimum political demands of our people for a reasonable and peaceful solution to Baloch national question in Iran. The Balochistan Peoples Party believes in a Federal solution to the Baloch Issue and put forward certain proposals and demands for a republican federal democratic solution based on Balochistan People’s party’s political program.

Balochistan In perspective

Among the most significant invasions of Balochistan was the Arab incursion in the seventh century AD, which brought far reaching social, religious, economic and political changes in the region. In AD 644 an Arab army under the command of Hakam defeated the combined forces of Makuran and Sindh. The period of Arab rule brought the religion of Islam to the area. The Baloch tribes gradually embraced Islam, replacing their centuries-old Zoroastrian religion.

During the anarchic and chaotic last phases of Arab rule, the Baloch tribes established their own semi-independent tribal confederacies, which were frequently threatened and overwhelmed by the stronger forces and dynasties of surrounding areas. The defeat of Baloch forces at Khabis and Bumpur resulted in the complete victory of the Ghaznavis dynasty over Balochistan. During most of the 12^th century southern Balochistan was under the control of Seljuks, before the arrival of the Mughuls. Towards the beginning of the sixteenth century the Portuguese captured several places along the Makuran coast.

The period from AD 1400 to 1948 can be distinguished for the declining grip of the surrounding powers on Balochistan and the rise of Baloch influence. The predominance of Baloch socio-political and cultural institutions is the characteristic of this period.

Historically, the British occupation of Baloch State of Kalat in 1839 was perhaps the greatest event and turning point in Baloch history. From the very day British forces occupied Kalat, the Baloch destiny changed dramatically. The painful consequences for Baloch were the partition of their land and perpetual occupation by foreign forces.

In 1849, an Iranian army defeated Baloch forces in Kerman and captured Bumpur. The Baloch political status was changed radically in later decades, when in 19^th century the British and Persian Empires divided Balochistan into spheres of influences, between the British Empire in India and the Persian Kingdom. The Anglo-Afghan wars and subsequent events in Persia in respect of “the great game” played out between Tsarist Russia and the British Empire further marginalized the Baloch people.

The Baloch Resistance

The Baloch in Western Balochistan have been in constant revolt against the domination by and chauvinistic policy of Iranian governments. The revolt of Jask (1873), of Sarhad (1888) and the general uprising in 1889 resulted in a scorched earth policy by Iranian forces in 1889, aimed at suppressing Baloch rebellion. A major uprising under Baloch chieftain Sardar Hussein Narui in 1896 prompted a joint Anglo-Persian expeditionary force to crush the resistance. The resistance was crushed after two years and Chief Narui was arrested.

With the resultant weakening of the Qajar dynasty in Iran after the death of Muzzafar-al Din Shah and the preoccupation of British authorities dealing with the Baloch uprisings in the Eastern Balochistan, the Baloch tribal chiefs in the West began consolidating their hold on their territories. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Bahram Khan gained control of almost the entire central and southern region of Western Balochistan, ending the occupation by Iranian forces. In 1916, the British recognized him as the effective ruler of Western Balochistan. His nephew, Mir Dost Mohamed succeeded Mir Bahram Khan. Mir Dost Mohamed’s attempts to consolidate his power coincided with the rise to power in Persia of Reza Khan in 1921. In 1928 the Iranian forces began an operation against Mir Dost Mohamed. Skirmishes continued for seven months and ended in the victory of Iranian forces over the Baloch and the eventual surrender of Mir Dost Mohamed. Thus Western Balochistan was finally annexed by the Persian Empire.

Until the Shah’s overthrow in January 1979, the Baloch Nationalist Movement in Iran was a relatively insignificant force compared to the movement in Pakistani Balochistan. Due to suppression, the harsh methods that were used by Iranian security forces and persecution by SAVAC (the Iranian secret police under the Shah), its leaders were forced to emigrate and operate underground from foreign countries. They had little ongoing contact with their widely scattered supporters inside Iran. “Nevertheless, while it never amounted to much in organisational terms, the pre- 1979 nationalist movement proved to have great psychological importance. The handful of Baloch activists who braved the Shah’s repression kept alive the spirit of resistance to Persian domination and thus directly set the stage for the resurgence of nationalist activity”[2] that took place after the overthrow of the Shah.

After the Shah’s overthrow a new political force emerged in Balochistan alongside traditional leaders comprising mostly of the educated young people. First they attempted to organise themselves but lack of political experience and ideological divisions soon disintegrated political workers into different political groupings, lessening their political importance.

In 1981 the Islamic regime of Iran began a major assault on political activists in the form of persecution, imprisonment, torture, execution and assassination. It managed to destroy most of the organisations inside Balochistan. The majority of Baloch political activists were forced once again to go to exile. This was a major setback for the Baloch national struggle within Iran, but nevertheless it opened new opportunities for Baloch activists by bringing them into closer contact with the political and nationalist activists of Eastern Balochistan. This gave them new-found confidence and encouragement to establish or to reorganise the Baloch national struggle.

Emerging political situation after the end of the cold war favoured oppressed nations struggle for self-determination and sovereignty. This encouraged hard core Baloch political activist to organise themselves in a new political party which does not have old valuations, e.g, to give sovereignty to a class, a party or an individual as king or spiritual leader in the name of ideology, religion or tradition. This group began to take form in 30 and 31 of March 1997 in the Stockholm, were a group gathered and discussed the situation and agreed to lay the foundation to establish a new political party to achieve Baloch people’s right trough democratic means. And to give a voice to Baloch people’s struggle outside the country where it’s unrecognised.

It elected a committee to encourage political discourse by publishing a periodical called Tran. Its efforts resulted in the establishment of the Balochistan People’s Party, BPP, In the 21 September 2003.

Subjugating the Baloch

In the Iranian controlled part of Balochistan, the Baloch are rapidly losing their identity. The previously Baloch dominated regions of Bandar Abbas, part of Kerman, Seistan and Zabol are the most affected areas of the assimilation efforts by the Persian state. Now in all these areas the Baloch are a minority, even the capital city of Zahidan does not look like a Baloch city. The Baloch in Iran are completely excluded from the structures of political, social and economic powers of the country. The dissemination of Balochi culture and language is a declared act of treason against the state and is dealt with through brutal measures. Many army garrisons are permanently stationed in Baloch areas, Balochistan presenting a picture of an army zone.

For most of the fifty years of Pehlavi rule, Tehran had to depend primarily on the use of overt military force to keep the Baloch areas under control, even when there was little co-ordinated insurgent activity. Mahmud Khalatbary, who served as Director General of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), in a discussion with Selig S. Harrison recalled that: “In CENTO, we always assumed that the Baloch would attempt to create their own independent state some day, with Soviet support, so it was desirable to keep them as politically weak, disunited, and backward as possible.”[3]

This policy was implemented in practice so that in the last years of the Shah’s regime Balochistan was the poorest province “with an estimated annual per capita income of $975, less than half of the $2,2000 national average for rural areas and less than one-fifth of the overall national average”[4]. Balochistan is still the poorest province in Iran, followed by Kurdistan.

Baloch people in Iran are treated as third class citizens, and are deprived of their cultural, social and economic rights. Some highlights of Iranian government’s chauvinistic policies are:

· The use of the Balochi language is forbidden in public places and Baloch children are deprived of using their mother tongue as the medium of instruction at school. The Iranian government does not allow any kind of press freedom in Balochistan.

· Successive Iranian governments have been engaged in demographic manipulations to systematically reduce the Baloch people to a minority in their own homeland. Government policy has been based on giving easy access to non-Baloch to purchase land at a cheap price. The policy of keeping the Baloch backward has resulted in the lack of job opportunities and impoverishment of the entire population.

· The policy of Iranian governments in dealing with different sectors of Baloch society is based on “divide and rule”. Baloch society traditionally is tribal and feudal. The Shah based its policies on using these different rival tribes or feudal families to keep its hold over Baloch society without giving any attention to the Baloch majority’s aspiration for social, economic and political justice. The Islamic regime of the ayatollahs, in addition plays the religious card, by dividing religious leaders and using them for its own purposes.

· Women in Iran are in general considered second class citizen and not equal to men in any aspect of life. Baloch women are in a worse situation than their Persian and Shiite sisters because of national and religious differences. The Baloch are mostly Sunni Muslim. Iranian law does not give Baloch women adequate protection. Protection that is provided by the tribal system and Baloch tradition is not enough to give women their due share and equal right to participate in the development of a modern society, so women are the poorest segment in the Baloch society, suffering from gender, national and class discrimination and oppression.

The Baloch National Question in Iran

The Baloch sense of repression is based on historical, social, cultural and economic grounds. Given the circumstances of recent decades, the ability of the Baloch national sentiments in Iran to survive extraordinary state repression is unprecedented. For decades, the Baloch nation, with its distinct society and culture has had to confront the entire "host” centralizing and ethnically based nationalist regimes in Iran having little or no tolerance for expressions of national autonomy in Iran.

While the modes and scale of political-cultural oppression by ruling powers have varied in time and place, the conditions of the Baloch and other oppressed nations in Iran share some important common features. First, the land of all oppressed nations is divided by international borders; they thus acquire significance for the "national security” of the country and are vulnerable to interference and manipulation by regional and international powers. Second, the regions inhabited by oppressed nations are usually the poorest, least developed areas, systematically marginalized by the centres of economic powers. Third, the dynamics of assimilation and repression against all oppressed nations bear the same characteristic features. Fourth, regimes in Iran manipulate race or religion as a means for integration and assimilation of oppressed nations into the Persian national identity.

The dynamics of national questions in Asia and other parts of the world do not fall into a monolithic category: they are historical, cultural, economic and geographic. In the post-colonial world, in multi-ethnic countries, the ascendancy to power by one specific ethnic group tended to occur at the expense of minority nationalities through the minimization of political and economic opportunities.

When a people sees it is disenfranchised or excluded from power structures, more often than not a consolidation of purpose that is diametrically opposed to the centre is formed on the periphery, viewing the existing state as the enemy. Thus hostility arises among the constituent nationalities of a multi-nation state from deep-rooted socio-economic and political-cultural grievances that an oppressed nation feels cannot be redressed by any normal political means. However, the forms and dimensions of ethnic enmity depend upon the nature of the polity and the power and position of the threatened group vis-à-vis the dominant nationality.

The Realities of the Baloch National Question

The Baloch are discontent because they have not been allowed the right to use their native language. The Baloch are disenchanted because they do not do not receive any benefits from the resources found in their homeland. They are disillusioned because they are exploited economically and in the process are kept away from the power structure of the state. The Baloch are disappointed because religion[5] is manifestly used as a means to assimilate Baloch nationality into Persian national identity in Iran. These basic realities have reinforced the Baloch’s general feeling of frustration and on the other hand the Iranian government policies has led to different political and socio-economic situations, in the different parts of country.

Resolving the Baloch National Question:

The Baloch National question can not be taken as bits and pieces. The Baloch nation must be recognised within its boundaries as a people distinct from others, equal in collective rights and duties. In the new millennium a new scenario of national governance should prevail. The attributes of the new system of governance should be harmonious partnership in a republican liberal democratic system with a federal structure and national autonomous provincial governing mechanisms. This may appropriately address the problem and offer prospects of a pleasant new partnership of trust and coexistence. A mechanism based on the acceptance of genuine demands of the constituent nations should generate participation, share responsibilities, and offer opportunities to all nations providing a foundation for stronger, civilised, prosperous and proud peoples in a multinational state with a new vision and a civilised image.

Balochistan People’s Party is a Liberal Democratic Party. It struggles to achieve the Baloch people’s sovereignty within the federal Democratic Republic in Iran. It has formulated a federal democratic framework which envisages a system based on parity of constituent parts. In which constituents borders within Iran will be redrawn according to the language, history and people’s wishes. The new republics will have equal rights in all spheres of power. According to the parties program, the relationship between a republic and the federal government must include five basic principles:

1. National sovereignty: Principal authority rests with the republic, with the federal government having exclusive authority in ‘foreign affairs’, ‘defence’, ‘international financial relationships and financial relationships between republics within Iran’ and ‘communication. The republics will retain power and sovereignty over the remaining state departments.

2. Democracy: Parliamentarian democracy should be enforced in all levels of power, both at the federal and republic level.

3. Participation: National republics will have equal participation in all government bodies: the legislative, executive and judicial branches. For equal participation, the population and geographic size of the republic would not be taken into consideration.

4. Distribution of Power: Both the federal government and the republics should have written Constitutions, and unambiguous laws, regulations and memorandum that both in federal and republics level divides power horizontally between legislative, executive and judicial branches; and vertically divides power between federal and national republics governments.

5. Financial autonomy: To guarantee financial autonomy, tax collection power should be divided between the federal government and the national republics in a way that makes the national republics financially autonomous of federal government.

A permanent appropriate and lasting solution should be in line with internationally recognised principles of the right to self-determination and sovereign equality of nations. The federal government shall incorporate republics in its decision procedure on some constitutionally entrenched basis.

Literature

Selig S. Harrison, In Afghanistan’s Shadow: Baloch Nationalism and Soviet Temptations, Carnegie Endowment for Peace, New York 1981.

Shahid Fiaz, peace Audit Report 3, the peace Question in Balochistan, South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Katmandu 2003

Inayatullah Baloch, 1987, the Problem of ”Greater Balochistan”, Stener Verlag Wiesbaden GMBH Stuttgart.

Khan, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, Inside Balochsitan, Ma’aref Printers Karachi 1975.

Ahmad Ali Khan Waxir, Tarikh Kerman, p 65-66-, (In Persian)

Farhang- e Iran Zamin, Compiled and edited by: Iraj Afshar, Tehran 1990.

Dr Naseer Dashti, Baloch in Iran: What Option they have?, Balochunity.org, http://www.balochunity.org/index.php?opinion+&did=157

[1] These countries are not national states, meaning that these are inhibited by various nationalities, ethnic and rational groups. However their political authority is predominantly rests with majority nationalities: In Iran the Persian speaking, in Pakistan, the Punjabi speaking and in Afghanistan, the Pashtu speaking nationalities.

[2] Harrison, Selig S. (1981), pp 103-104

[5] Historically, the Baloch never incorporated either Zoroastrianism or Islam as such into their social or political life. Instead they have been guided by centuries-old cultural and traditional values in their national behavior. A liberal and tolerant mindset has evolved among the Baloch masses over the centuries.