Situation in Iranian Balochistan
By: Riyan Ghulam Akbar Phull
Today, representatives of the Supreme Leader of Iran met with the scholars of the Makkah Mosque in Zahedan, Baluchistan Province, Iran. This mosque is the largest Sunni mosque in Iran, whose imam is Maulvi Abdul Hameed, who is recognized as the leader and leader of the Iranian Hanafi Sunnis. At one time, Ahle Sunnats were also the representatives of the people by the Supreme Leader.
This meeting is taking place in the circumstances when serious problems have been going on in the Sunni majority province of Balochistan for the past several days. It started with an alleged allegation when a top Chabahar police officer was accused of raping a 15-year-old Baloch girl. Regular protests started on this and about 40 days ago, a protest rally was held after Friday prayers from Makkah Mosque in Zahedan.
The protesters marched towards the police headquarters and started pelting stones. After that, firing was opened by the police. The police and the official statement is that the terrorists of the banned group Jaish-ul-Adl entered the protestors and opened fire on the police, in response to which the police opened fire, but this charge was denied by Maulvi Abdul Hameed and other Baloch leaders and the Jaish itself. Al Adl has also done it. According to official figures, thirty-four people were killed, while according to Baloch leaders, the number of dead was more than hundred. This Friday is remembered as “Bloody Friday” of Zahedan and was commemorated again three or four days after forty days of the incident.
After this incident, Maulvi Abdul Hameed, Imam of Makkah Masjid, in his Friday sermon, put all the responsibility of the incident on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, saying that all the armed and sensitive institutions of the country come under you, so you are responsible. There are Also demanded the government to take action against those responsible for these incidents. In another statement, he also demanded a referendum on the “Islamic Democratic” system in the presence of foreign observers.
The matter escalated further when the representative of Majlis Shoori from Chabahar while speaking in Parliament said that when there is a protest elsewhere in the country, rubber bullets are fired but when Baloch protest, bullets are fired directly on the head and chest. Therefore, two different attitudes in the same country are condemnable. But he was stopped from further conversation and the mic was turned off.
In these circumstances, when the concern in Iranian Balochistan has increased to the limit, Leader Moazzam has specially sent his representatives to Makkah Mosque of Zahedan, who today met with Ahl-e-Sunnah scholars and Baloch elders, including Maulvi Abdul Hameed. It is hoped that the situation will now be under control and the leaders will focus exclusively on solving the problems of Baloch and Sunnis.