حزب مردم بلوچستان Balochistan People’s Party بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل
Iran expands naval bases amid threats
Source: Press TV ; 28/10/2008
Iran says the country's military is set to expand its defensive fronts in
the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean.
The announcement by Iran's Deputy Army
Commander Brigadier General Abdolrahim Moussavi came after the country's
Armed Forces inaugurated a new naval base in the strategic port of Jask on
Monday.
Describing the port of Jask as the main entrance to Iranian waters, Brig.
Gen. Moussavi said the new naval base would act as a protective barrier
against enemy infiltration.
The Iranian commander added that the country's Armed Forces have set up an
'impenetrable naval barrier' in the eastern parts of the Strait of Hormuz
and the Sea of Oman.
Moussavi also stressed the need for the expansion of Iran's military bases,
arguing that, "In the past, our military had to brace itself for countering
regional enemies. This is while today we are faced with extra-regional
threats."
The Iranian commander's remarks come as Washington and Tel Aviv have
threatened to launch military strikes on Iran, accusing the country of
making efforts to build nuclear bombs.
Iran says its nuclear program is directed at the civilian applications of
the technology, including the production of electricity to meet the demands
of its growing population.
Tehran has warned that in the event of war, it would not hesitate in taking
the necessary measures to protect its sovereignty - including the closure of
the Strait of Hormuz - which connects the oil-rich region to high seas,
supplying as much as 40 percent of the world's sea-transited crude oil.
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Tuesday, 28 October 2008 ; Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Oct. 28 – Iranian authorities have hanged two men in the
restive province of Sistan-va-Baluchistan, south-east Iran, state media
reported.
Authorities hanged the men, identified only by their initials A. M. and Kh.
N., in a prison in the provincial capital Zahedan on Monday, the
government-run news agency Fars reported.
The report said that both men had been convicted of drug smuggling.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as
armed robbery and drug trafficking.
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni
Muslim ethnic minority.
Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by
Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the
theocratic regime.
Since 2006, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive
province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks
by dissidents on government and security officials.
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Aftershock hits Balochistan as disease spreads
01.11.2008 ; http://www.dawn.net
WAM: A strong aftershock rattled Balochistan, as aid agencies warned that
disease had begun to spread among tens of thousands of earthquake survivors
waiting for relief supplies.
The 5.0-magnitude quake struck just before 6am in Balochistan, where a
powerful pre-dawn tremor on Wednesday killed up to 300 people and left
70,000 people homeless.
There were no immediate reports of further casualties or damage as a result
of the latest aftershock, the second strongest of more than 250 tremors to
have shaken the region since Wednesday’s quake.
Aid has begun reaching devastated villages, but angry villagers in remote
areas said they desperately needed shelter, with thousands of people whose
mud-brick homes were flattened sleeping in the open in freezing
temperatures.
The UN Children’s Fund said Friday they and Pakistani government officials
assessed the situation in the worst-hit districts and were ‘concerned about
the urgent needs of children and women’.
‘With winter closing in, the most urgent needs of the survivors are shelter,
safe drinking water, food, warm clothing and emergency medical assistance,’
a UNICEF statement said.
Clean water was a ‘priority,’ it said, adding that children were especially
vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera.
The district health officer of Ziarat told AFP that children were already
suffering from exposure to the harsh conditions. ‘Due to the cold hundreds
of children are being treated for pneumonia, abdominal diseases, diarrhoea
and chest problems,’ he said.
‘We fear the death toll will rise. Such diseases, if not treated in time,
are life-threatening,’ he said. Children could be seen running after cars on
the road adjoining the affected areas begging for food and drink, witnesses
said.
Residents in the quake-hit village of Khanozai, near Ziarat, blocked the
main road in protest at the lack of relief goods despite government pledges
to help them, an AFP reporter saw.
‘Our children are dying, help us,’ cried Mohammad Khan, the owner of an
apple orchard.
In another village, Ahmadoon, people said they were making tents from
scavenged clothing. ‘No one from the government has so far inquired about
our welfare,’ said Allah Noor, a teacher.
‘Our children could not sleep during the night because of the cold and
continued tremors shaking the mountains. People do not go to their damaged
houses even to take out food because they fear more tremors,’ Noor said.
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Balochistan Human
Rights Watch: Kidnapping of a Baloch from Shahbakhsh tribe in Zahedan in
front of his home by the civil dressed Security force of Iranian regime.
29/10/2008
According to reports from the activists belonging to Balochistan Human
Rights Watch, the civil dressed security force of Islamic republic of Iran
in Zahedan kidnapped Haji Mohammad Nour Shahbakhsh (son of Halim) belonging
to ShahBakhsh tribe, Sunday 12th October 2008 in front of his home and moved
him to yet unknown place.
Haji Mohammad Nour worked as driver for living and his physical state was in
bad shape, namely because of illness and owing to age. His family has, in
vain, made several attempts to find out about the reason why he was
kidnapped, and where he has been moved to.
The Shahbakhsh tribe is one of largest tribes in Balochistan, and the
members of the tribe, like other tribes in general in Balochistan, have
particularly during the last several years been subjected to a tremendous
suppression by the Iranian Islamic Regime.
The Shabakhsh Tribe members live generally in the south eastern part of
Zahedan region, in particular in Shoureh, Dumag, Kourein, Cheshmeh, Gourband,
Rud Mahi and Falibid. The land in mentioned areas is tremendously good and
suitable for pistachio and the like.
Since the take over of power by Iranian Islamic Regime, the South Eastern
area in Zahedan region has been subjected to destruction, mining, killing of
innocent people, killing of animal husbandry etc due to what the regime
officially calls as cleaning up the region with regard to improvement of
security level. The military operations carried out by the regime in this
area have resulted in enforced relocation of large number of the tribe
members to else where.
The Shahbaksh tribe members are on daily basis subjected to discrimination
by different governmental organisations and institutes even because of
having Shahbakh as their surname. The discrimination is occurred almost all
over when they make an application to registration of a property, to getting
ID cards, to enrolling educational systems or to applying for jobs. They are
frequently stopped and subjected to frisk at military checkpoints between
the cities when they are on journey. In the wake of all mentioned distinct
discrimination policy, many Shahbakhsh tribe members have been enforced to
change their surname in order to achieve common possibilities at
governmental steered institutes like educational system, job market etc.
Furthermore, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that the
regime has already killed a large number among the Shahbakhsh tribe members,
and the regime still holds hundreds of young members of the tribe in
custody. None of the imprisoned persons has any right to accessing a fair
trail, nor to any lawyer.
We in Balochistan Human Rights Watch, strongly, condemn the systematic
discrimination of Shahbakhsh tribe generally imposed by the regime of Iran
and kidnapping of Mohammd Nour Shahbakhsh. Furthermore, we would like to
draw all international human rights watch groups� and the international
society's attention to this inhuman act committed by the regime. We urge you
to call the regime for unconditional stop for further violation of human
rights in Balochistan.
Balochistan Human Rights Watch / Radio Balochi FM
2008.10.26
http://bhrw.blogspot.com/
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Rally held in E. Balochistan, in support of Baloch against Iranian state terrorism
09-11-2008 ; Quetta
