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Take the necessary
urgent action on saving the lives of 4 young Baloch from Iranshahr –
Balochistan
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Following the reporters in Balochistan who closely work with Balochistan
Human Right watch, the Iranian Islamic Republic’s security forces have
arrested following 4 young Baloch in Iransharh, namely the area of
Sardaragan in Iranshahr:
1. Abdoullah Kalkali son of Din Mohammad, 25 year old, well digger
2. Eshagh (Isaq) Kalkali son of Din Mohammad, 27 year old, well digger
3. Amin Damani son of Sharif, 23 year old, well digger
4. Taj Mohammad Kalkali, son of Nezar, 23 year old, farm worker
The mentioned 4 young Baloch were arrested approximately 10-12 days ago, and
transferred to an unknown detension address. Abdoullah, Eshagh and Amin were
arrested while they were on their job, and Taj Mohammad in his home address.
Eshagh had recently returned from a religious journey from Pakistan. It is a
well-known and common religious missionary journey among Sunni muslims. His
journey had lasted in 4 months. Eshagh was arrested few days after he came
back from the journey.
All attempts from involved families due to get any kind of logical
argumentation from the authorities have not resulted positively, and the
only official message is pointing out that their sons have been involved in
armed activities against the regime, and they have a strong link to
Jondollah group. Furthermore, it has been announced that Eshagh has had a
meeting with Abdoulmalik Rigi while he was in Pakistan under his religious
missionary journey. Abdoulmalik Rigi is the leader of Jondollah group.
Din Mohammad, the father of Abdoullah and Eshagh was already suffering by a
heart desease, and he passed away one week after the arrest of his two sons,
by a heart attack that undoubtedly was initiated by the fact that the
security gurads had arrested the sons.
All related families are under the strongest control and psychological
pressure, and of course nobody can direct any question concerning their
sons, simply because all are fearing for their own lives as well. All close
relatives are so worried about their own destiny that they even have cut any
link to the involved families.
As informed, the Islamic republic of Iran has already killed and still
killing hundreds / thousands of young Baloch with false allegations such as
participation in drug handling processes and / or participation in armed
groups. As informed also, the acused persons have been killed with no any
right for justice defence against the false allegations. When it is not
possible for the regime to take such allegations in use, it does not
hesitate to claim the Baloch are politically active agains the regime.
Therefore we in Balochistan Human Right Watch fear for the lives of all
these 4 young Baloch and would like to call international attention, the
Amnesty International in particular, to our concern. Nevertheless we would
like the international community to take the necessary immediate action on
this particular imprtant matter.
Thanking you in advance
Yours sincerely,
Balochistan Human Right Watch / Radio Balochi FM - Sweden
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Smuggling to Iran
rife in dangerous Gulf waters
By Lin Noueihed
KHASAB, Oman, May 12 (Reuters) - Smugglers pile boxes high on their
speedboats, covering them with tarpaulin before zipping off into the sunset
on the short but dangerous journey across the strategic Strait of Hormuz
from Oman to Iran.
They return in the early morning, their empty fibreglass boats ready to pick
up more cargo at the small Gulf port of Khasab, in Oman's isolated northern
peninsula of Musandam.
Trade with Iran is as ancient as the settlements overlooking the Strait of
Hormuz, gateway for a third of the world's oil shipments. In 2005, Iran's
police chief said some $6 billion worth of goods such as computer parts, tea
or cigarettes were smuggled into the country each year from the Gulf.
Now, tensions between the United States and the Islamic Republic have added
new dangers to the age-old journey across the Strait of Hormuz.
The arrival of a second U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf in April raised
fears that Washington was planning to strike Iran.
The U.S. military dismissed this idea but accuses Tehran of supporting Iraqi
militias and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Washington also says Iran is
seeking nuclear weapons under cover of an energy programme though Tehran
rejects the charges.
The tension bubbles through the Gulf: this year, four encounters between
patrolling U.S. ships and small boats, some described as Iranian by the
Pentagon, exposed new risks of confrontation in the busy sea lanes.
But despite the dangers, smugglers on the Khasab route -- used to
circumventing Iranian import controls, high duties and bureaucracy at
overstretched ports -- say the money is too good to resist, especially given
poor job prospects in Iran.
"The goods come from Dubai and we carry (them) illegally to Iran. The
government of Iran does not know about us," said Ahmed, who has been making
the daily journey to Iran's Qeshm island, some 40 km (25 miles) away, for
three years.
"I am a driver. The boat is not mine. For each time, we get (300,000 rials).
We go each day 2-3 times. The boss is in Iran," says Ahmed, who is from
Afghanistan but lives in Iran.
TYRES AND NAPPIES
Smugglers say Iranian patrols take a million rials ($110) a boat to turn a
blind eye to cargoes ranging from Chinese shoes, to soft drinks, cigarettes,
televisions, even hair removal wax.
Those who have failed to grease the right palms, or come across a zealous
Iranian guard, often come under fire, forcing them to jettison their illicit
cargo to avoid fines and jail.
In Oman, the exports go through the local customs house and the sultanate is
even planning to build a free trade zone next to Khasab port as part of its
efforts to diversify its economy away from oil.
Iranian officials say Iran's long sea and land borders make it hard to curb
smuggling, but they are more worried about drugs coming in via Afghanistan
and state-subsidised fuel going out.
Smugglers at Musandam say they sometimes bring in fuel, prawns or livestock
from Iran, but the trade mostly highlights the way consumer goods --
especially U.S. embargoed products like computers -- enter the Islamic
Republic via Gulf states.
The United States cut diplomatic ties with Iran and imposed trade
restrictions after the Islamic revolution overthrew the U.S.-allied monarchy
in 1979. Leading a drive to isolate Iran, Washington has tightened trade
restrictions in recent months.
The United Nations Security Council has also imposed several rounds of
sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme.
All that has had little impact on Khasab, where the re-export trade is a
major money-spinner in a small economy.
The old market of Khasab is known as the "Iranian souq", so dominated is it
by import and export businesses dedicated to the re-export trade with Iran.
Many of the goods that end up on the smugglers' boats are imported from the
neighbouring United Arab Emirates, which does its own roaring re-export
trade with Iran. Dubai registered over $4 billion worth of non-oil re-export
trade with Iran in 2006.
Tyres and babies' nappies are piled up in the part of Khasab port used by
the Iranian boatmen, with a constant stream of pickup trucks ferrying goods
onto the jetty.
"We take juice, tea or cigarettes every day," said one Omani taxi driver who
was dropping off a consignment of soft drinks.
TENSE TIMES
Wiry, suntanned men from Afghanistan or Baluchis from Iran man over 70 boats
moored in Khasab. The boats leave in groups of five or six, with two men to
a vessel. Their aim is to get across the Gulf as fast as possible.
It takes less than 50 minutes to get to Qeshm island. A round to trip to the
mainland takes under three hours, even in slower speedboats, the smugglers
say.
But with so many vessels in the Gulf, through which 17 million barrels of
oil pass each day, and with political tensions so high, any incident could
quickly escalate.
The U.S. Fifth Fleet is based on the Gulf island of Bahrain. Eight countries
are situated on the Gulf coast, their police, military and coastguard all
crowding a busy commercial channel.
In January, the United States said five Iranian speedboats aggressively
approached three U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf, and a radio message was
received warning they could explode.
Iran said its boats were trying to identify the ships. Experts say the
message may have come from a radio heckler known as "the Filipino monkey."
The smugglers leaving Khasab carry no radios. Most speak no English or
Arabic anyway. If anything is curbing their trade, they say, it is economics
rather than geopolitics.
Inflation in the UAE and beyond has eroded profits and the global rise in
food prices is also pinching.
Of three trucks that once sold tea, snacks and toiletries to the smugglers
in Khasab, one remains. The other two are boarded up, having been priced out
of business by inflation.
"Before, there were many Iranians. Now, it is less," said Jaafar Zelabzi, an
Indian who runs the still-open truck and accepts Iranian currency. "Prices
in the UAE are too high."
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Global protests to
mark nuclear tests in Baluchistan
11-05-2008
WASHINGTON DC: Baluch, Sindhi and American
peace activists will join hands in protest against Pakistan testing of its
deadly Islamic Bomb in occupied Baluchistan on May 28 outside the Pakistan
embassy in Washington DC.
A noon to dusk hunger strike will also be staged to draw the attention of
the U.S. public to the ongoing brutal military operation in Baluchistan.
Baluchistan, a Texas-size stateless region, is divided among Pakistan, Iran
and Afghanistan and a bloody army operation continues there despite
installing of a civilian regime, though coup leader Gen. (R) Pervez
Musharraf is still the president of the artificial state created by the
British in 1947.
Baluchistan was annexed by Pakistan in March 1948 and a move is afoot to
knock the doors of the International Court of Justice. The Khan of Kalat His
Highness Suleman Daud Ahmedzai has sought asylum in the United Kingdom and
has vowed to get the right of self-rule for his people.
Last week three Baluch tribesmen were burnt alive in Baluchistan. Several
thousand people have been killed since the start of a bloody insurgency,
which the Baluch call the Fifth War of Liberation against Pakistani
occupation of their homeland.
The Baluch have risen in arms against the occupation of their country by
Pakistan in 1948, 1958 and 1962 and 1973-77. The latest uprising started in
2005 and the dead include former governor and chief minister of Baluchistan,
Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, and member of the provinial assembly Mir Bala'ach
Marri. More than 7000 people were jailed and tortured in Pakistan's
gestapostyle prisons. The victims include former chief minister of
Baluchistan, Sardar Akhtar Mengal.
Though all nuclear weapons are equally deplorable, Pakistan's weapons of
mass destruction are even more dangerous as it is religion-specific. As part
of its state ideology, Pakistan considers people from other religions as its
state enemies and has made clear it will not desist from being the first to
use nuclear weapons.
Pakistan has rapaciously used Baluch resources for the last 60 years and
instead of giving Baluchistan its due share, killed and maimed tens of
thousands of Baluch tribesmen and left their lands contaminated by nuclear
radiation in the 1998 nuclear tests. No independent study has been conducted
to see the disastrous consequences of Pakistan's use of Baluch territories
to test its so-called Islamic bomb.
Islamic fundamentalist took to the streets of Pakistan when the nuclear
weapons were tested in Chagai 10 years ago. They had missile replicas
mounted on trucks with "U.S., Israel and India" inscribed on them
A special highlight of the day will be the
reading of a message from the de jure ruler of Balochistan, His Highness the
Khan of Kalat. In a separate address to his nation, the Khan of Kalat will
convey his plans for Baluch emancipation through telephone to the Quetta
Press Club.
A number of U.S.-based Baluch human rights activists will participate in the
protest rally in DC.
American guitarists will sing peace songs against nuclear weapons, while
U.S. poets will recite poems. Speeches by Baluch and Sindhi activists will
deal with the situation faced by the people of Baluchistan and Sindh.
Similar protests are planned in Pakistan and other Western capitals, while
Baluch in the Arabian Gulf countries have conveyed their support for the
global protests.
For more info, contact Dr. Wahid Baloch, Mir Maqbool Aliani, Nabi Baloch or
Ahmar Mustikhan.
Media contact: 1-301-957-0008.
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Shell pulls out of
Iran gas deal
By Tom Bergin ; May 10, 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch
Shell (RDSa.L:
Quote,
Profile,
Research) has pulled out of a planned gas project in Iran, after coming
under pressure not to participate from U.S. lawmakers who were concerned
about Iran's nuclear programme.
A spokeswoman said on Saturday that the
world's second-largest non government-controlled oil company by market
capitalisation was pulling out of Phase 13 of the giant South Pars gas field
but may yet join later stages of the field's development.
Shell, Spain's Repsol (REP.MC:
Quote,
Profile,
Research) and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding in January 2002 to develop Phase 13 in a project
to be known as Persian LNG.
At the time, Shell said deliveries of
liquefied natural gas -- gas cooled to liquid under pressure for
transportation in special tankers -- could begin in 2007.
However, United Nations sanctions on Iran
related to its nuclear programme, which it claims is for power generation
but which the U.S. and European states believe is aimed at developing
weapons, and criticisms of the deal from U.S. politicians and investors,
slowed progress.
Meanwhile Iran grew impatient and
threatened Shell with eviction from the project if it did not commit
formally.
The spokeswoman for the Anglo-Dutch company
said:
"We have agreed the principal of
substitution of alternative later phases for the PLNG project so that INOC
can proceed with the immediate development of Phase 13."
She would not give a reason for the
decision. Repsol was not available for comment.
Iran will now need to find new partners for
the project. Media reports have suggested Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM:
Quote,
Profile,
Research), Indian Oil Corp (IOC.BO:
Quote,
Profile,
Research) and Chinese companies could join, as they are expected to be
less susceptible to U.S. political pressure, but the companies have limited
experience of LNG.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin, editing by David
Christian-Edwards) |