The Security of Baluchistan Province Requires Attention

In a speech at Iran’s parliament, the Majlis representative from Zahidan warned about the security situation in the country’s border province of Sistan and Baluchistan and for the first time revealed the mass murder of a family in the town of Iranshahr.

Speaking on the Majlis floor last week, MP Hosseinali Shahriyari said, “Several nights ago a group entered the house of a city resident in Iranshahr and killed the wife and children of the household, then poured gasoline and set fire to the bodies of the victims.” He called on the authorities to pay attention to the residents of these deprived regions in the country.

Shahriyari referenced article 154 of Iran’s constitution and said, “The Islamic republic does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country while at the same time it shall defend the rights of the deprived around the world.”

As head of the national security and health committee of the Majlis, he said “Many problems have been created for the deprived residents of the Sistan and Baluchistan province and so while attending to the deprived people of the world, the government must pay attention to the conditions of the deprived in this province.”

The representative also made a reference to the kidnapping of an Iranian fencing champion, and criticized the spread of insecurity in the province.

Hamed Sedaghati is a member of Iran’s national fencing team who was kidnapped on a road between the towns of Iranshahr and Khash in the province. According to the state-run ISNA news agency, this fencer was travelling to the town of Chahbahar along with two companions Mohammad Ali Ghaffari and Mehdi Hosseini when they were attacked with armed me. Ghaffari was shot in the head by the assailants and died while there is no news of the other two travelers.

After the incident, the spokesperson for Majlis’ national security and foreign policy committee Hossein Naghavi announced that a team had been created to investigate the kidnapping of the fencing champion. He has since followed up by saying that the investigation had been completed and that the results would be soon communicated to the members of the national security committee.

But these efforts do not seem to have satisfied the MP from Zahidan. In a recent speech on the floor, Shahriyari addressed the foreign ministry and said, “I request that you not spend all your time on the nuclear issue because the provision of security to some regions in the country requires that the foreign ministry discuss these issues with neighboring countries.”

Majlis chief Ali Larijani concurred with the request and added that “The safety has to be extended to our citizens.”

This is not a new security-related incident in the province. Just a few months ago five Iranian border guards were abducted, apparently by the same group, Jeishe al-Adel. Four of them were ultimately released after long negotiations and threats while one of them, Danayi, was announced to have been killed by the kidnappers as a reprisal.

Sistan and Baluchistan province bordering both Afghanistan and Pakistan was one of the most insecure regions in the country. Earlier this year after the five guards were kidnapped and an assassination attempt was made on the life of the Friday prayer cleric in the town of Bazman in the province, president Hassan Rouhani called the province strategically “important” and added, “In a sense, this province is the frontline from a national strategic perspective because the country’s contact with free waters begin here.”

Soon after these remarks and Rouhani’s trip to the province, a teacher in the town of Sarbaz was killed unidentified armed men. Following that, an employee of the deed registration office, Mohammad-Reza Sayadi was attacked and killed by armed men in the same town.