Statement on mysterious car accident and killing three Baloch Sunni clerics in Balochistan

19, April 2006

On behalf of BPP (Balochistan People’s Party) we would like to draw your attention to the deteriorating situation in Western or Iranian held Balochistan where the Iranian military and intelligence forces are involved in killing of three Baloch Sunni clerics and their two associates.

On Monday 10th of April 2006, three Baloch clerics, Molavi Nea'matulla Mirbalochzahi, Molavi Abdul Hakim Gamshadzahi, Molavi Abdullah Narooi and their two associates in a mysterious car accident have been killed.
The so called accident has happened in a way that the target car traveling from Zahidan (provincial capital) has been hit by an empty unmarked bus which only was occupied by its driver and his assistant traveling from Kerman 500 kilometers away from Zahedan.

Having experienced many times this way of opponents killings by the Iranian regime since a decade ago, the Baloch people are questioning this so called accident and holding the Iranian Intelligence services responsible for this dubious killing.

When a journalist asked Mr. H. A. Sharyari who is a well known anti Baloch MP from Zhahidan of peoples suspicious about this accident, he replayed why should they use a bus to kill them while there are other easy methods to do such things (please see the web links below)

It seems that this killing is linked with the threat of the Iranian interior Minister Mr. M. Pour Mahomadi and Mr. H. A. Sharyari who both are Shia Hezbollahi extremists and well known anti Baloch and anti Sunni figures which both recently have threatened and accused via Iranian official media the Baloch people for the killing of more then 22 Iranian high ranking intelligence officials by a militant Jondullah group.

He even asked the interior Ministry and security forces to be tougher on Baloch people which seems that the interior Minister Mr. Pour Mahomadi has listened and sent extra 1500 of his loyal fighters to the region recently.

The Iranian regimes politic in Balochistan is based on divide and rule policy. It has always during crisis situation used religious card to destabilize Balochistan.

Since some of the Zabolis (Sistanis) in Balochistan are Shia, it has been always the policy of Iranian regime to play Shia and Sunni card in Balochistan in order to muddle the situation for the enforcement of the divide and rule policy. It discriminate Sunni Baloch in the job market and treat Shias with privileges, in all social spheres.

Mr. M. Pour Mahomadi in a recent speech has said that because Zabolis are educated and loyal to the system are being used in high ranking position in Balochistan. Mr. Minister and his regime deliberately forget that in a civilized world it is the responsibility of the state to provide equal opportunities to all of her citizens regardless of religious and ethnical backgrounds.

This is not the first time that Iranian regime is involved in the killing of Baloch politicians and Baloch clerics, the list is long one but we would like to be mentioned a few of recent era:

* On February the 15th 1996 the disappearance and alleged execution of Molavi Ahmed Sayyad.

* On March 4th 1996 Molavi Abdul Malek Mollahzadeh son of Molavi Abdulaziz, the most prominent Sunni cleric in Western Balochistan along with an associate Molavi Jamshidzahi were assassinated by agents of the Iranian regime in Karachi, Pakistan.

* Molavi Ebrahim Damoni a well known anti regime cleric immediately after his release from a long held imprisonment killed in an arranged accident in Iranshahr.

* Another Sunni cleric and high school teacher, Molavi Abdurrahman Alahverdi was arrested by the authorities in the Balochi town of Sarawan, so far his fate remains unknown.

Nasser Boladai
Spokesperson for Balochistan People's Party
Nasser.Boladai@BalochPeople.org

CC:
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)
Amnesty International (London)
Humanis Rights Watch

http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8412270240

http://www.tik.ir/display/?ID=18220&page=1

http://www.iran.org/humanrights/1996_usa_dos.html

http://www.balochpeople.org/farsi/2006/apr/BalochKhabar1.htm