16-06-2006 

Ladies and gentlemen and distinguished members of the French Parliament, on behalf of the Balochistan people’s party and the Baloch nation, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks and profound gratitude to the French people, Parliament and Kurdish institute in Paris  that helped and made possible this opportunity. We sincerely value the opportunity provided to us to bring you and the world the solution which in our view would result in solving the plight of our oppressed Baloch and other nations in Iran.

I am speaking here as the representative of Balochistan Peoples Party (BPP), which is a liberal Democratic Party struggling to achieve sovereignty for the Baloch people within a secular federal and democratic Republic in Iran.

Today we are discussing the situation in Iran in the Parliament of a nation that more than three centuries ago its people through a people revolution introduced a new concept of political power acknowledging for the first time in declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, that the principal of  sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation; no body of men,  no individual, can exercise authority that does not emanate expressly from it. This new concept inspired people to fight for peoples sovereignty. The struggle for freedom and justice is continuing in different part of the world. While some nations have already achieved people’s sovereignty dream it has to be fulfilled in many other parts of the world.

The concept of people sovereignty is especially important for the people in Iran. Over two decades ago the Iranian people ousted the Shahs regime in the hope to establish a democratic and republican system. The revolution was derailed and instead a theocratic regime come to power that gave the absolute power to Supreme leader.

There are opposition groups in Iran that want to return the clock back and establish a monarchy,  there are other groups that under different ideological pretext aiming to build system based on one party rule, they are inspired by one party systems of former socialist countries or one party systems in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. They show their desire to keep absolute power in the centre putting forward political platform that envisages a regime change without a solution to the question of the oppressed nationalities in Iran.

Through this policy they are showing their unwillingness to recognise none dominant nationalities rights within a lager state. The none dominant nationalities constitute well over fifty percent of the population in Iran.

Bearing these political circumstances in mind, Balochistan Peoples Party emphasises on people’s sovereignty as the highest value, to establish a liberal democratic society that people can change the political arrangement if they chose to do so, through fixed, free, fair, well informed and democratic elections.

Iran is not a nation but a multi-national state composed of six nations; Ahwazi Arab, Azerbaijani Turks, Baloch, Kurd, Persian and Turkmen.

 Iran currently is governed as an ethnic nation, with a dictatorial political structure. The Iranian states main goal is to assimilate other nationalities into the dominant national identity that is to say the Persian national identity. This chauvinistic policy has resulted in an enhancing sense of alienation among non Persian and non-Shiite populations in Iran.

As the representative of Balochistan Peoples Party I will specifically explain the situation in Balochistan.

Balochistan, “the country of the Baloch” is presently subjugated by three countries of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. The country is strategically situated at the eastern flank of the Middle East, linking the Central Asian states with the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Ocean. It posses the Northern part of Gulf and Arab Sea from the strait of the Hormose to Karachi.

Balochistan as the largest province of Iran cover a large part of southern Iran and South Eastern from Strait of Hormoz to Gwatter a small town near the sea Oman See. Gwatter is divided between Iran and Pakistan.

 Baloch whose population is more than four million in Iran, has its own national identity which is based on its own language, culture and territory which is different from the dominant nation's identity, and  the high majority of them are Sunni Muslim. For having these differences are systematically  being treated as the third class citizens in Iran.

Since 1928 that Western Part of Balochistan was forcibly annexed by Iran. The politics of the Iranian regimes in Balochistan are characterised by persistence violation of human rights. Under the previous monarchist and the current Islamic regimes of Iran, the Baloch people have been deprived of their cultural, social, economic, and other fundamental human rights.

 Some significant consequences of the Iranian regimes chauvinistic policies are:

 ·        Baloch children are barred from receiving education in their mother language, and do not receive proper education facilities and are not equipped with knowledge to enter in the Iranian Universities,  those who succeed after passing many hurdles are excluded in other process where religion affiliation are tested.

 ·        In the employment market Baloch young men and women face other obstructions which are a combination of language, culture and religion. They are excluded, simply, because they are Baloch. Most of young men and women are forced to leave Balochistan to neighbouring countries in search for Job. Baloch in Iran feel and  practically experience that they are living in an apartheid system.

 ·        Successive Iranian governments have been engaged in demographic manipulations to systematically reduce the Baloch people population to a minority in their own homeland. Furthermore, among the many repressive policies is the destruction of the homes of poor Baloch people and their displacement. This is done in order to provide the best located land to the non-Baloch, specifically to Security Forces, which are brought in from other parts of Iran to carry out the regime’s chauvinistic policies. Government policy has been based on facilitating easy access to non-Baloch people to purchase land at a cheap price and set up businesses.

 ·        Balochistan is rich in natural resources; gas found in it’s soil are sold by Iranian Government without any benefit to Baloch, Iranian government is building pipeline from Sirik in Balochistan to take its Gas to Kish, while Baloch living near those field do not have access to gas or other modern necessary facilities. Balochistan’s oil is being exploited in Sirik, yet Baloch people face energy shortage every winter.

Since the forced annexation of Balochistan by Iran in 1928, the Baloch people have resisted the Persian domination in many ways including with a low-intensity armed resistance.

The increase in human right violations, collective punishment of Baloch civilians, and increased militarization of Baloch areas especially since AhmadiNezhad has been brought into power as the president of Iran, has lead to intensification of the armed resistance against the Iranian regime.

The armed resistance movement in Western Balochistan is a native phenomenon with a history of more than 70 years against the successive Iranian governments.

Instead of employing negotiations and other peaceful means to end the resistance, The Iranian regime, due to its oppressive character, is accusing the Baloch people of cooperation with western powers.

On the15^th of May 2006, the regime used this accusation to launch a military operation in a large scale in a vast area in Northern and Southern parts of Zahedan city, the provincial capital of Balochistans. During these operations no encounters between Baloch resistance forces and Iranian army have taken place.

The regimes forces using Helicopter gun ships and jet fighters have bombarded civilian areas resulting causalities of innocent Baloch people in both rural villages in deserts and mountains.  More than 20 civilians have been killed with many more injured, and the people have also suffered enormous damages to their properties live stocks.

In the first weeks of June 2006 more than 10 Baloch were executed, many of them were hanged in streets of the Zahedan, the provincial capital.

The Iranian regime treats Baloch people as the third class citizens,  a discriminating act based on religion and ethnic differences, yet the same regime’s president, Mr Ahmedinezhad, spoke in Zahedan earlier this year defending Palestine’s national right and irresponsibly called for Israel to be wiped out of the world map.

 The Iranian regime is also a strong back bone of the international terrorism and extremist groups. In defiance of the international community, the Iranian regime is pursuing its program to achieve nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

If under the justification of its safety, it succeeds in arming itself with the nuclear weapon the increase of its support for the extremist and terrorist groups in the region is imminent. Dominating the Middle East in order to control the oil production and its flow to black mail the international community and putting unnecessary strain on the world’s economy it will worse the international situation than what it is now.

Change of this regime that is armed with a fanatic ideology and financed by oil money requires a strong opposition that enjoys popular support inside the country and international backing.

The Balochistan Peoples Party is working with other parties and organisations in the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran to build a broader and stronger opposition to the current regime and to establish a democratic, secular, federal government in Iran.

The Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran, which consist of major parties of Iranian nationalities, is a strong part of the Iranian opposition that command critical mass and popular support inside Iran,.

Its platform for a secular, democratic and federal republic that is based on parity of constituent parts, provides political solutions that can get the majority of the people of Iran behind it. It provides the popular support for the regime change and establishment of a political structure that will bring stability in Iran, in the region and the necessary support for the peace of the world.

BPP is ready to work and cooperate with other organisations, parties and international community to achieve this aim before it is too late and before this fanatic regime arms itself with nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Under nuclear protection this regime will increase its support of international terrorism and extremism and will suppresses its own people, particularly the oppressed nations in Iran.

APPENDIX

An Introduction to Balochistan history

Balochistan, “the country of the Baloch,” is presently subjugated by three countries of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. The country, strategically situated at the eastern flank of the Middle East, links the Central Asian states with the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Ocean.

Balochistan has existed as a geographical area inhabited by a closely related people for thousands of years. It has even existed in recent times as a modern national state. Historically, Baloch had independent principalities within a Baloch national framework.  For example, the independent state of Kalat from 1947 to 1948 was the last one. Kalat was occupied and annexed by Pakistan in 1948. However, Kalat governed over Eastern Balochistan directly or indirectly until 1973. 

In 1849, an Iranian army defeated Baloch forces in Kerman and captured Bumpur. The Baloch political status changed radically in later decades, when, in the 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 Baloch people in Western Balochistan have been in constant revolt against the domination by and the 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.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Bahram Khan gained control of nearly 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. 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. Dost Mohammad Khan went to Tehran for negotiations but was arrested and executed in Tehran. Thus, Western Balochistan was finally annexed by the Persian Empire. The politics of the Iranian Government in Balochistan are characterised by persistence violation of human rights.