Analyzing by PMOI/MEK
Iran, March 1, 2021—Last week, protests erupted in the city of Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan province near the Iran-Pakistan border following the killing of fuel traders by the criminal Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) forces. For many of the poor people of this city, trading fuel is the only source of income to put food on the table for their families. However, they are constantly targeted by IRGC units. On Thursday, outraged locals in the town of Suran took to the streets protesting the killing of demonstrators and fuel traders, and the unrest continues. Over 40 protesters have been gunned down by the regime’s security forces.
It is important to know why this province is among the poorest areas of Iran. In fact, for years the regime has imposed an economic and subsistence prohibition on the people of provinces such as Sistan and Baluchestan, and Kurdistan in western Iran. This is the reason locals are seen trading goods in a desperate attempt to make ends meet. Locals resorting to trading fuel is just one result of the regime’s ethnic discrimination. Due to religious differences, the regime has imposed a double cultural prohibition and deprivation to these provinces in comparison to the other parts of Iran.
Following the killings of fuel traders by the IRGC in southeast Iran that began on February 22, public outrage and hatred toward regime officials have also been on the rise.
“The border provinces of Iran are under special security supervision due to their Sunni communities. Border provinces, like the suburbs of large cities, suffer from poverty. The damages suffered by locals in these provinces have for years been neglected by officials in Tehran,” a February 24 piece ran in the state-run Mostaghel daily reads in part. “The first reason is the fact that these provinces have been literally eliminated from the country’s industry and trade spheres. If we work for sustainable development in Sistan and Baluchestan province, we will quickly notice the terrible gap between this province and the rest of the country,” the Mostaghel daily piece concludes.
While the necessities of life everywhere in the world is considered the provision of work, food, water and shelter, state-run media in Iran are acknowledging the regime’s negligence vis-à-vis Sistan and Baluchestan province. This is while the regime is spending billions of dollars for helping its terrorist proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Despite Iran’s economy being in the hands of the IRGC with billions of dollars of wealth, locals in Sistan and Baluchistan are deprived the very basics. For example, children in this province area mostly deprived of education and the illiteracy rate is rising.
The daily Mostaghel continued:
“During these years we have not paid any attention to the education of children in Sistan and Baluchistan province. According to statistics published by the ISNA news agency, the illiteracy rate in this province is close to 37 percent. There is also no precise census of women’s access to education in this province. The statistics show that the situation of Sistani children’s access to technology for online classrooms has been very disappointing.”
For years, the regime has abandoned Sistan and Baluchestan province. The outcome of economic, cultural, and subsistence poverty, has put immense pressure on the already impoverished people of this province. On the one hand, locals try to make ends meet, and on the other hand, the regime is imposing organized repression against this deprived community.
“Sistan and Baluchestan province is completely neglected and this vicious cycle is repeated until it reaches an irreversible point,” the state media wrote.
Therefore, the people of Sistan and Baluchestan have no option but to rise and defend their dignity. It is their right to protest and in recent days Iranians from across the country are showing their support and solidarity.
