The Pragmatic Beginning of Freedom Movement in Iranian Occupied Balochistan

Written By  Hafeez Hassanabadi

Regarding the resistance movement in Western Balochistan, the tomorrow’s historian would records the statement of Rauf Rigi, the spokesman of the BPRM Baloch People Resistance Movement as a milestone, in which he said that “it is not a religious war between Shiite and Sunni but a war to free Balochistan from Iranian occupation”. Although, in the month of June, 2009, Jundullah, perceiving the slavery of Baloch nation, redrawn the attention towards a new strategy and policy, and gave first priority to the issue related to national emancipation, and determined the ways of national struggle. They changed the name of the organization from an orthodox religious extremist group into a nationalist party and adopted the name of Baloch People’s Resistance Movement. The founder of the organization, Malik Rigi, during last days of his life, declared the Baloch issue as the fundamental subject of his organization in his several statements. Besides him, party spokesperson time and again has openly talked about the importance and sensitiveness of the national issue.  This was the main reason that infuriated the fanatic Iranian mullahs and the Pakistani Baloch killers. Because they knew that if they killed all Baloch in the name of religious extremism, world would pay no heed to it, but on national issue, the killing of them would not be an easy task.  And In the name of the religion they could easily link them with the Al Qaeda and Talban. But those who raise the question of national issue would be hard to associate with them.

Now more than one year has gone by, since this organization has changed its name and program, but still some of our friends unconsciously and purposely, in the target of the enemy’s flooding propaganda, addressing this Pure Balochi organization with the religious name which is not liked in the world community because of its religious fanatic impression.

The arrest of Malik Rigi and the main reason behind his swift execution was that he identified his enemy and friends, and perceived the adoption of bad and good policies for his national struggle.

It was the adoption of the right path of this organization which corroborated Baba Marri’s encrypted words on the stone, in which he had said that “Guerrilla war itself is an education, which not only distinguish between good and bad, but also help to identify the approved and disapproved policies”.

In an analysis once I had said that given the Iran’s peculiar conditions, the religion slogan with which Malik Rigi initiated his struggle are disapproved of, however, they have proven highly effective.

However, it goes without saying that the issue of different nationalities in Iran is in the top of the list. The differences among different nationalities in Iran are so sharp that, it is even beyond the imagination of the people of its neighboring Pakistan, let alone the civilized world.

When a mosque was demolished in India, Entire Pakistan rose up against it along with its rulers; in the reaction the Hindus minorities became the victim of it. Their Houses, temples, shops all were put on fire, including the loots and plunders of the Hidus people belongings. But how the fanatic Iranian regime in Islamic Iran  demolished a 800 years old Faiz Mosque in 2003 in the glamorous city of Mashhad and park was established in place of it? Yet a single news bit did not appear into Pakistani media about it. In 1986 in a small village, called Negower of the occupied Balochistan, a Madrasa was demolished by Iranian armed forces, people outrageously protested it, and then a fierce battle took place between the Revolutionary Guards and the local people. The Iranian forces were temporarily defeated, and they retreated, but then all and sundry were arrested along with priests. Until today no one could rebuild that Madrasa there. When the Revolutionary Guards got the wind of the news that the people of Gwernaag are building a new Masque, like wild rampant elephants, the Iranian forces turned the entire village into a ruin, the bulldozers demolished the houses of the people along with Masque and the Madrasas. And People were forced to take refuge in the neighboring areas. In Zabul, the sunni Madrasa Amam Abu Haneefa was bulldozed to the earth level. Recently another Sunni Masque has been demolished in Zabul. After the bombs explosions in Zahedan, the biggest Masque in Zahedan, called Makki Masque, was rampaged by Revolutionary Guards breaking the furnatures, windows and burning the books. All posters related to Caliphate Omer’s name were spitted and trampled over.  A country which claims to be Islamic, its constitution says that Shiite Islam is the official Religion in Iran, and it stipulates that the head of the Iranian state shall be a Shiite.  It means that no matter how efficient and competent a Sunni might be; he still can’t make it to a high position as per the Iranian law. Whatever the Iranian state controlled media, radio, TV, say about Sunnis and other Minorities are totally baseless. Religious freedom in Iran is so much valued as the paper legal status of the legislators of Pakistani occupied Balochistan, who have passed several hundred revolutions, yet they could not pressed even a single resolution to be implemented into law. It is just as true as Pakistan’s tall claim that there exists democracy in Balochistan; That Baloch have their own representatives in the parliament, that they have their own governor, etc. But in Balochistan being a Baloch, it is important to determine how much cajoling is required to be selected for making your way to Islamabad.

There too (In Iran) the Mullas and Masques are secured provided they acknowledge Tehran’s sovereignty and regard the slavery of the Baloch people a divine decision. On the other hand, when a Baloch assert himself as the son of the soil of his homeland and strive to reserve his history, language and culture, would be condemned to death along with his Masques and Mullas.

Remaining silent in a country, where religious rights are violated and its values are humiliated and not talking about religious rights and not associating it with comprehensive national rights (freedom) does not seem to be a work of wisdom. Similarly, giving no priority to national struggle for freedom in the fight of religious rights is a fatal stupidity. Because, Even though Baloch became Muslim 15 hundred years back, yet it has a historical identity as a Baloch, which is more than 5000 years old.

As for as the clear and direct slogans are concerned for national freedom of the Baloch people in Iran, we think the fundamental reason is that, all nationalities in Iran have been suppressed to such an extent that psychologically they all have accepted a national death.  The Kurdish national movement, perhaps, would have remained at the same lowest level as it is the today Baloch national movement’s standing, had the Iraqi and Turkish Kurd not been so active.

As for as the question of intensity in the Baloch national war and the lack of national conscience is concerned, the constant state sponsored barbaric atrocities and suppression have played a fundamental rule in it. And the second reason is that the national struggle for freedom in Pakistani occupied Balochistan has always been uneven. The Western Balochistan, According to prominent America scholar Selig S. Harrison, always looks towards Pakistani occupied Balochistan for leadership. And because of the vacillations of Baloch leadership on the other side, a step forward and two steps backward, neither they could do something themselves, nor they left others to shoulder them. But nonetheless, the thing that is considered to be positive is that the freedom slogan in Pakistani occupied balochistan has never died down. Though it could not advance any sort of big change, but it never allowed the ambers of the slogan for freedom against the slavery to die down which have now turned into a big fire and it has engulfed entire colonial states on the both sides of the arbitrary borders of Baloch homeland.

The national question in Western Balochistan is rising with such intensity where we can’t draw parallel looking back towards the history. The occupying forces’ simultaneous terror and genocides of Baloch nation in both Western and Eastern Balochistan have catapulted the demand of freedom to the highest summit, where the demand of religious freedom and provincial autonomy seems to be dwarf. The forces who initially were working for maximum rights and provincial autonomy for Baloch people in Iran have now learned that it is suicidal to make such demand within Iranian domain, which is gradually trying to assimilate us into Persian color. The very existence of Baloch is depending in the fact that they have a free sovereign state. The Baloch People’s Resistance Movement (BPRM) too considered the religious contradiction a part of the national deprivation, and attributed it to national struggle which is, in any sense, a positive step. But the thing that is needed to be pressed here is that the recent statement that has been issued by Rauf Rigi should be acted upon and it should be the agenda upon which the policies should be explained. Instead of fighting for some privileges or some power sharing subjects within Iranian federation, they should fight for outright freedom from Iran. And this organization should also recognize the right to freedom of other nationalities in Iran. It also expects from others that they support Baloch national movement for freedom. Gone are the days of the vague slogans and the useless demands. Because Baloch nation has been pushed too deep into backwardness, their very existence is at stake right now. Therefore, it is imperative upon BPRM to concentrate on the demand of the freedom. There is no dearth of people who want to stabilize Iranian and Pakistani federations respectively, but there is no one other than the Baloch to preserve its own existence.

Translated By Archen Baloch

Courtesy Dailytawar Newspaper.