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Baluchs**:
Introduction: Sistan and Baluchistan province with the lowest economic participation and management in the country, the highest illiteracy rate, the highest unemployment rate, the highest percentage of poverty, the highest rate of executions, the highest mortality rates of mothers and children, the country's highest per capita death , the largest number of Iranian people without identity cards, lack of food security, the lowest level indicator "life expectancy", the lack of judicial security and the highest percentage of malnutrition is the most disadvantaged provinces. The province is known for the tent schools.
Tent schools in Sistan and Baluchistan Province.
The province has suffered over the years as a result of various historical, ethnic and geostrategic topics, leading to it becoming the land’s most deprived zone in the recent decades.
The people have several reasons to touch like second-class citizens such as deep economic crisis, unemployment, poverty, lack of labor and social welfare, the majority of the area’s rural population ranks with no welfare services and inadequate annual household expenditure levels for each family, lack of drinking water.
The zone has never been developed whereas the province is one of the well-heeled areas in the country including rich mines, however, the majority of the population in this province are below the poverty line according the official statistics expressed by state newspapers.
Sistan and Baluchistan today is the most underdeveloped, desolate, and poorest of the country’s provinces, insomuch thattThe government of Iran has been trying to return the crisis by accomplishing new projects such as creating Free Trade-Industrial Zone in the city of Chabahar.
Sistan and Baluchistan, the southeast province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran with an area of 181,785 km² and a population of 2.5 million, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan (1100 km land border) and 300 K.M water border with Oman Sea that caused it becoming a strategic area in the Middle-East. The province comprises two sections, Sistan in the north and Baluchistan in the south and its capital is Zahedan. Its major cities are Khash, Iranshahr, Saravan and commercial free port of Chabahar on the coast of Gulf of Oman.
Freedom of Speech: Most Baluchs are Sunni Muslim, whereas the majority of Iranians are Shiite, and the government of Iran favors that branch of Islam. The problem for the people is that most of them are Sunni Muslims in a Shiite-ruled nation.
The Sunni cleric are called and threatened that they will be arrested if the religious ceremonies held by them and the rituals celebrate in the terms of security by Iran’s officials Intelligence Services.
Torture: Living in poor and exigent region of Baluchistan is a torture on its own, but the people from this region go under different types of tortures and persecutions in police stations and Intelligent Agency when they are detained.
The medieval tortures are a bitter memorial that Iran’s officials have being using against the Baloch dissidents in the regime’s detentions.
Many Balochi citizens could be faced the brutal tortures which goal of confession by Intelligence Service, Intelligence Division of Iran’s National Police Force or Revolutionary Guards officials.
The brutal methods of torture are used to force both- criminal and political inmates to confessing therefore inhumane inquisitions are loaded. They are experiencing sorely grievous work-out of tortures—both physical and psychological that mostly lead to their disabilities. The victims will be disabled for their whole life, whiles, hundreds of the inmates as well as innocent individuals are exposed to the Medieval torture in the Republic Islamic chambers.
The far-reaching norms of torture are as following: Hands crushing (thumbscrew) by clamp, pressure shower on the head where the individual gets nervous and tense after a few minutes, also waterboarding, pulling fingernails, cutting the fingers, hanging from ceiling, lash, high voltage shocking, shoving sharp objects into the sensitive organs, burning the sensitive organs, sexual torture as rape or sexual words, roast chicken torture, keeping in grave cell, mock execution, hanging up heavy objects to the testis, and lethal injection, etc.
Death Penalty and Murders in the Prisons: “According to census from Amnesty International, Iran’s regime hanged at least 1,481 people from 2004 to 2009, with the London-based International Voice for Baluch Missing Persons claiming that about 55 percent of them were Baluch.” The organization called that Baluchs in the country have tolerated the highest concentration of death penalties handed down as a percentage of population in the world for nearly a decade under the Islamic regime, Karlos Zurutuza wrote in The Diplomat Magazine.
And accordant to the annual report of Baluchistan Human Rights Violations dozens of Baluch citizens were hanged by gallows in public and non-public execution on the charge of drug possession, adultery, armed conflict, armed robbery, murder, blasphemy, theft. Some of the prisoners of conscience are faced the death penalty because of their non-violence activities that the government sees them as a threat such as religious students and Sunni activists.
Prisoners’ critical condition in the area: According to the reports, the prisoners suffer from lack of cooling system such as air conditioner, refrigerator, and water cooler in Zahedan prison in summer of 2014. It is worth noting that the health treatment is another huge harassment for prisoners, the prisoners reportedly declared that the prison clinic doesn’t have medicine for specific diseases and they have to buy medicines on own costs.
Terror and Abduction: There are several Terrors daily or weekly in Baluchistan; the cause of most of these terrors is based on tribal challenges. The fundamental reason of the increase in this type of terrors is distributing firearms among these tribes and ordinary people by the Revolutionary Guards. In many cases the evidences show that these firearms are used during these tribal unrest and lead to massacre but not only these firearms are not taken away from the owners but also it seems that there is a kind of exemption for the owners and users of these firearms. The reason is that these murderers and terrorists are connected to Revolutionary Guards, or there is no serious intention to solve fundamentally solve this issue, therefore the users of these firearms are never charged to imprisonment or serious prosecuted.
The Deputy Governor of the province expressed concern about high-level insecurity in the region which increased the number of armed robbers up to 149% and more than 72% of arms exploration.
Baluch Activist Campaign stated that 33 killed and wounded by direct police shooting in Sistan and Baluchistan in the first six months of Iranian year.
The security situation of Sistan and Baluchistan has been in serious crisis due to its proximity bordering Pakistan that the region protection has given to the Revolutionary Guards during the presidential term of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Terror is a common form that both Baluchi armed groups and security forces of the regime have exercised it to achieve their interests.
Education: More than 32% of the population of the region is illiterate according to the statistics reports. The region is known for its Tent-Schools and the students are unfamiliar with the facilities such as cooling and heating system, toilets, audiovisual equipment, sport halls and windows in the classes.
The Director of Education of the state Alireza Nakhai said the governmental news agency ISNA on 4th June 2015 that there are 400,000 illiterate people in Sistan and Balouchistan, and at least 162,000 of these people are under 50 years old.
The Literacy Movement Mohammad Mehdi Zadeh said that most of Iran’s illiteracy in the age group 10 to 49 is belonged to the province. The General Director of the province has acknowledged that the area is faced a shortage of more than 8000 educators due to lack of adequate funding.
The Director of School Renovation of the province also has mentioned more than 10 thousands classrooms in the region faced with the lack of a standard heating system.
The General Director Alireza Nakhaei in an interview with the governmental news agency Mehr has stated that more than 120 thousands children and juveniles are deprived of educational opportunities due to lack of space and Geographical distribution in the zone.
Member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Provinces Mohammad-Amin Dehvari said on 11 June 2015 during the seventeenth session of the Supreme Council of Provinces that many students have forcibly study in the tent classes without any roof because of the unfair attribution of facilities in different provinces as the news agency close to the Revolutionary Guards Fars said.
Half of the Province’s Children Are Deprived of Nursery
There are 8oo villages in the north of the province whereas the area has only 80 nursery center as Director of Social Welfare Sarawani said Mehr news agency.
Economy: The province was never a preferred place for industrial investment, hence the lack of laboring and has never been contained in the country’s comprehensive development strategies.
The province has undermined its potential because of the far from the capital city of Iran that the major investments in infrastructure are wasted as other remote regions, as it could not produce economic momentum.
The region is stuck between armed smuggling and terrorist groups and plagued by underdevelopment, unemployment and poverty.
“The province is in dire need of attention from the central government, the only entity capable of developing its infrastructure and overall economic conditions” as Bijan Khajehpour expressed in the article by Almonitor.
Sistan and Balochistan has been described as akin to Mars on Earth. For all the attention they get from Tehran, many Baloch feel they may as well be on another planet as Karlos Zurutuza said on 2011.
Deputy Governor of the province said that the rate of unemployment has exceeded 40% in the province whereas its members in the parliament expressed about more than 50% measurement of the unemployment.
The comparing of the employment rate among Iran’s provinces is stated that Sistan and Bluchistan has allocated the lowest rate (24.7) of employment in the country.
Hassan Khedri the Representative of the Supreme Leader of Iran in Zahak declared that more than 90 percent of the population are below the poverty line and 50% of the citizens are covered by funding agencies in the area.
1800 labors of a spinning mills have been fired out as the Chairman of the Socio-Cultural Counsil in the city of Iranshahr said.
In 2013 the poverty rate under one Dollar was 0.01% of the total population. And Sistan, Balouchestan and Yazd has had the highest rate with 6%. Those living with less than one Dollar in rural areas is 6% of that population with Yazd province capturing 37% of that as the highest rate. In 2013 those living with less than $25 was 2% of the total population with Sistan and Balouchistan Province holding the highest rate at 2 %. Those living with less than $125 were 6% of the population in 2013 with 41% held by Sistan and Balouchestan with the highest rate.
Member of City Council of Iranshahr pointed to the building a new prison in front of the factory and said:”now there are 2000 prisoners and the statistics have shown that Unemployment is an important factor in crime.” Regarding this issue Nazli Raeesi the wife of one of the fired workers of the factory said to the governmental news agency ILNA: we are four in our family and my husband has to smuggle tea and gasoline from Chabahar or Zabol to Afghanistan in order to earn some money. Doing this he has been arrested several times and we have lived unsupervised and without life support for a long time.
She added that my husband has worked for Baft Baloch company for nine months but he didn’t have any insurance in order receive unemployment insurance or to redeem like some other workers.
The economic participation rate in the spring of 2009 has been in a way that despite a participation rate of 40.5 per cent of the country, East Azerbaijan province at the rate of 48.5 per cent had the highest and Sistan and Balouchistan with 29.7 percent had the lowest rate of economic participation. Comparing the unemployment rate in the spring of this year show that the unemployment rate 11 percent of the country, Lorestan province has experienced the highest unemployment rate of 19.5 percent and North Khorasan Province with 4.2 percent has the lowest unemployment rates. The difference between the best and the worst unemployment rate in the spring of 2009, was 15.3 percent.
Because of the economic problems, many young men of the province earn their livelihood through smuggling fuel, drugs and goods. The province is ranked first in the smuggling fuel and dozens of people are killed annually in this way.
The youth of the province enter the profession of smuggling from the age of 13. Head of the Employment Association of Islamic Councils of Sistan and Balouchistan said that in this region because of lack of proper-paid jobs, local boys enter the black jobs like smuggling and trafficking in the borders from childhood and adolescence.
Golbameri emphasized that the responsibility of these people is mostly transporting consumer goods, such as food, clothing, fuel, second hand goods, automotive parts and home appliances and said: these adolescences have no relation to criminal and illegal activities and only for the purpose of their livelihood are commuting on the border.
He mentioned that these adolescences are under no social support and are commuting in the border of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan and are paid based on the distance and the type of goods. He said that their income is something between 10,000 to 30,000 Tomans per day.
Environment: The combined Sistan and Baluchestan province today accounts for one of the driest regions of Iran with a slight increase in rainfall from east to west, and an obvious rise in humidity in the coastal regions.
The region is a particular place where the location of many rare animals with virginal habitat for animals.
The province known rainbow of mines in the country including granite, copper, limestone, gold, marble, uranium, oil, gas and cement.
The residents of more than 200 villages left their homelands because of drought and water crisis as a MP Herawi said Shahvarn newspaper on 2 Oct 2014.
The Director of Balouchestan Studies Center in London Abdul-Sattar Doshouki said in a part of his report in Persian BBC in in 2014 that loss of Hamoun Lake in Sistan, which is the seventh international pond in the world and is the biggest sweet lake of Iran, caused dispersion and homelessness of dozens of farmers, fisher men and ranchers.
A lake from which 12000 tons of fishes were caught, today is a dry and hot floor under a great amount of sands. Hamoun death caused the biggest environmental emigration and dispersion in Iran.
Sistan was considered as the silo of Iran, is now no place for farming based on the reports of internal news agencies.
There is less attention to the loss of Jazmourian Pond in west of Balouchistan, which once was the provider of forage for hundred thousands of chattels and the water source of so many.
The main cause of Jazmourian death, in addition to mismanagement and building small dams, was building the biggest dam of south east of Iran on Halilroud River in the city of Jiroft. After that in 90s decade it caused to drying great parts of this pond and producing salt marshes. This led to homelessness of so many Baluch families in Balouchistan and Kerman.
Welfare Services: Sistan and Baluchistan with 180.726 square kilometers, 11% of the size of the country, has not sporadically exceeded highways about 167 K.M. The zone is the poorest province in terms of roads and Colonel Ayoub Sherafati in an interview with the governmental news agency Irna said more than 709 citizens died in traffick accident on the roads of the province and 55% of the accidents caused by overturning cars and 24% of deaths related to the events of the vehicles which carrying illegal fuel (fuel smuggling) and human trafficking.
The habitants of 14 villages in Habudan near Ahuran Lashar in Nikshahr of Sistan and Baluchistan have to climb to the highest mountain tip or go and return a 34 kilometers way in order to just make a phone call.
14 villages of this mountainous and difficult region have a population of 586 families and more than 2300 people.
Officials of Health Ministry have acknowledged people of this southeast region have been facing the lowest life expectancy.
The province‘s representative in the parliament confirmed that unemployment rate in the region is more than 50%.
The capital of the province Zahedan has topped illiteracy with 1.64% of the population below poverty line in Iran.
The data vividly exposing the long term injustice inflicted on the field of healthcare in the province.
Based on the report of Balouch Activists Campaign according to a local news agency Tolou Konarak, 27 years ago health minister(of the time) started to build Shahid Rajaee Hospital, but still people of Konarak city have to go other cities to be treated.
A pregnant woman was admitted to Razi hospital in Saravan and she and her baby died because of doctors’ ignorance. Tabatabai claimed that maternal mortality in this state is 3 times of the average of the country and said: 10 percent of the population are living mobile and are straggly that it is not possible to provide health services for them.
General Director of population, family and schools’ health also added that Sistan and Balouchistan has 14 percent of death rate with 70 thousands and deliveries under 18 and 35 years old are the most common cause of death for women in this state.
Many rural and remote zones of the province are denied of drinking water due to drought and lack of management by the central government.
The residents of the villages of Chabahar suffer from shortage of drinking water in the last four months as the Chairman of the Village Council of the Voshnamha Fazeli said to the governmental agency Khabar Online.
The Deputy of Health Services of Medical University in Zahedan told Irna news agency in 2015 that one-fifth of the province’s children under five-year-old suffer from underweight, physical weakness and short stature.
Shortage of micronutrients in children is another phenomenon in Sistan and Balouchistan. Shortage of Zinc and Iron in this state is twice of the average of the country.
He claimed that: in addition anemia and shortage of Iron in pregnant women in this state is twice the average of the country. More than 44 percent of the women in this state suffer from iron deficiency.
He added that last year we witnessed 29 pregnant women dead; malnutrition, anemia, several continuous deliveries as well as traditional deliveries, deliveries above 35 years old and under 18 and severe bleeding after childbirth are the main causes of maternal mortality in this state.
The Health Deputy of Medical Sciences University of Zahedan claimed: Sistan and Balouchistan as the youngest state of Iran is suffering from malnutrition and anemia.
Seyed Mehdi Tabatabai mentioned in his talk with Mehr: unfortunately the indicators of malnutrition in Sistan and Balouchistan are twice of the other states and healthy food is not available for everybody in this state especially for women.
He pointed that 20 percent of children under 5 years old are suffering from malnutrition and were diagnosis with wasting, underweight and stunting; he added that in terms of food security we are on the border of warning situation.
He said that the prevalence of anemia in all age groups in Sistan and Baluchistan doubles as the national indices, and added: rate of anemia in the country is 20.7, while the index of Sistan and Balouchistan is 2 times of the average of national rate and is 41.7.
The General Director of population, family and schools’ health claimed birth rates in the state is about 3.5 times the country's average. He said 41 percent of children between 15 to 23 months in this state are suffering from anemia. He added regarding sanitation and consultation during and before marriage there are some lacks. 26 percent of the mothers in the country are suffering from anemia and from this amount 16 percent are living in Sistan and Balouchistan.
Doctor Firouz, deputy of the Skin and Leprosy Research Center told Health News Reporters Club about leprosy: Sistan and Balouchistan is one of the states which has the highest rate of leprosy in the country.
Based on the claim of Blood Transfusion Organization, Sistan and Balouchistan has the highest rate of thalassemia in Iran. This is while Chairman of the board of directors of thalassemia of the country warned about the critical situation of Sistan and Balouchistan in the birth of thalassemia.
Cancer expert of Health Deputy of Zahedan said the ratio of cancer patients in the state has increased in the last 5 years and in 2013 more than 700 people from this state had cancer and this is only a part of the real statistics. He added the most common cancers in this state are leukemia, breast and stomach cancers.
According to the report of IRIB News Agency, the highest rate of TB patients in Iran is related to Sistan and Balouchistan.
President of the TB program and chief of department of communicable diseases of the Medical Sciences University of Zahedan said: most TB patients in this state are respectively in Zabol, Zahedan and Chabahar.
Doctor Parsi added: the prevalence of tuberculosis in neighbor countries Afghanistan and Pakistan is one of the important causes of the spread of this disease in the state of Sistan and Balouchistan
Ministry of Health announced in 2011 that the rate of HIV infection among women in the province is 2 times the national average because of the cultural conditions and illegal travels to neighbor countries and polygamy. This rate is 3 times higher among children.
Based on the report of Khorasan Newspaper in 2010, HIV infection rate of children is 3 times the national average in Sistan and Balouchistan.
Azamdokht Rahimi Head of the Bureau of Population of ministry of health said to State news agency Hamshahri: based on the latest results of the Ministry of Health research, Tehran and Gilan have the highest life expectancy age and Sistan and Balouchistan has the lowest life expectancy age.
The Director of Balouchistan Studies Center in London Abdul-Sattar Doshouki mentioned in an article in BBC in 2014 that despite of the agreements with Khatam Headquarters and National Iranian Gas Company, Balouchistan is the only state in Iran which does not gas pipeline in its cities.
The extortion of state institutions to fisher men and farmers is very well known. For example, onion is bought from the farmers for 11 Cents (355 Tomans) per KG and then is sold over 46 Cents (1500 Tomans) in the market.
The Baloch citizens called Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani in an open letter to mention of medical and health critical conditions, lack of experts and medical staff, the A high mortality rate of mothers and children in the region on June 2015.
Drug trafficking and fuel smuggling: The Deputy Governor of Sistan and Baluchistan said that more than 115 tones drug are seized in the province on 2014.
There is no drug rehabilitation center for children in Sistan Baloochestan
Although the unofficial statistics show more than 700 addicted children in Zahedan, but there is drug rehabilitation center for them in this city and even for the whole state.
He added, 9000 people are admitted to drug rehabilitation centers in the state but because of the lack of any center for children there is no statistics about addicted children.
The governmental agency Mehr pointed to addiction in an article with the title “decrease in addiction age in the city of Khash is a serious warning” on 7th March 2015 and said according to the Head of the Welfare Organization of Khash city that decrease in addiction age in the city of Khash is a serious warning and should be seriously planned to address this. Aminollah Hashemzehi said to Mehr agency that the transition of drug users from traditional drugs to chemical ones is a worrying issue.
He added according to existing statistics especially regarding the drug usage in the province, addiction age of 12 years is a warning and all the officials have to put effort to solve this issue. The Head of the Welfare Organization of Khash city pointed to the geographical situation of Sistan and Balouchistan and its neighbors Afghanistan and Pakistan which makes this province in exposure to more drugs. He added this neighborhood has been always a threat which needs solidarity and empathy of administrative and security organs.
Mehr agency mentioned about Zolfaghar, an eleven-year-old boy who is using drug with his mother without the fear of the camera, is one of the children whose dreams and life is colored grey.
For a second we enter their house which is open to everybody according to themselves, the black walls and this livelihood which nothing more than a blanket and a gas-picnic becomes a good subject for the camera.
Zolfaghar is busy with the used aluminum pieces and his eyes are barely seen among the smoke, he is silenced to our questions and prefers to grab the smoke rather to answer us.
His mother doesn’t have any problem with our presence or the camera and says: Zolfaghar uses Heroin, he started at the age of 5, he never studied, hi dad is dead and their neighbor made him addicted.
This family don’t have any ID therefore, they cannot get any legal or social support and their names is not among Iranian citizens. They don’t receive any financial aid from the government and their job is begging from the drivers behind the traffic lights to earn some money for a piece of bread and of course the heroin.
Drugs for bread: Saeed is one other thirteen-year-old adolescent who lives here in an illegal house; he is the child of Iranian mother and Afghan father who died because of drug abuse.
He is one of the children who does not have any ID (birth certificate) thus he is deprived of education right. He started his job by waxing shoes in the streets from his childhood in order to earn some food for him, his mother and his little sister.
He used to sell Hashish (Marijuana) and Nas (a kind of drug mostly used in Balouchestan Afghanistan); he tells: selling drugs brings good income but is very dangerous for me because I don’t have an elder brother.
I asked him how an elder brother can help. He replied: when there are a lot of children we can sell drugs more easily because if one is arrested the others can work for the family livelihood, in addition if the amount of drug is much the brothers can claim that each of them are responsible for some part of it is in order to reduce the verdict of the court and the punishment is divided between them and nobody would be sentenced for death penalty.
He is now selling newspapers and tells Mehr agency that I just need a job and food, it doesn’t matter what I sell.
He continues the income of selling the newspapers is not bad which is 300,000 Toman (almost$100) per month; but newspapers reach Zahedan very late and even some days they don’t reach and I cannot eve buy a bread.
He added that selling newspapers is more respectful and sometimes people who buy the newspapers pay more but polishing shoes usually is followed by beating and insulting, so many times I get a kick instead of money.
Children addicted to steam: The term “Children addicted to steam” refers to kids who are addicted to sniffing gasoline or glue. Mehr news agency reported about the working children who are in the business of selling gasoline and are addicted to the smell of gasoline and get high by smelling gasoline several times of a day. In addition these children are the permanent customers of stores in Hafez alley, Azadi Street in Zahedan to buy glue and sniffing it to reach the state of ecstasy. Peyman Javidnia one of the sellers in the above mentioned area says that: most of our glue customers are the children between 8 to 10, and because we know their intention we don’t sell glue to children under 15.
Trafficking gangs looking for the children and adolescents: Chief of the Office of Women and Children Rights of Justice in Sistan o Balouchistan claimed that the smugglers and trafficking gangs are always aiming to abuse child and adolescent.
Omekolsoum Moazen said to Mehr: you can find adolescents under 14 years old in prisons who had carried drugs for small amount of money like 400,000 Tomans (almost $100). This shows how smugglers take advantage of the adolescents’ unawareness.
90 % of the criminals are among children without identity: The Chief of the Office of Women and Children Rights of Justice in in the province claimed that unfortunately marriage between Iranian women and foreigners or wanted people or people without identity results in children without identity and birth certificate; and this have had a heavy burden on the society in this state.
Moazen mentioned that: lack of identity cards and birth certificates deprives these children form their right to have education and social services and welfare and as a result these children are absorbed by criminal and corruption gangs.
She said: children without identity lead to increase the social problems because of their dangerous behaviors. Thus, there is a constant increase in the number of children smuggling drugs, working children, children beggars, and young criminals and thieves.
In only one of the cities of this state more than 4600 acres of the gardens and groves are lost because of drought.
A Balouch activist who has helped in the statistics of this report said that send our voices to the people of the world, nobody knows what is going on in Sistan and Balouchistan, nobody knows why people like Abdulmalek Riggi has rebelled.
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