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Ahmedinejad’s projects that were directed to the unprivileged people in remote provinces had a great impact on the delicate situation in the border area. |
The terrorist attack carried out by the Jundallah group left a number of the leaders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards dead in one of the worst attacks of its kind. The assault, which took place in the city of Sirpaz in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, is one of the rare terrorist attacks which took place in an area adjacent to the Iranian-Pakistani border. Therefore, the incident requires much examination of the reasons, motives, and results.
Given the geographic remoteness of the Sistan-Baluchistan province, it is not given much attention by the government in Tehran. The government’s only concern is securing the border with Pakistan, which is ensured by security agreements with Pakistan.
The rough geography of the region, lack of resources, government negligence and centralization have further aggravated the poverty, deprivation and instability of the inhabitants of south-east Iran.
The social structure of the area is tribal in nature, which results in a constant pressure from the central government under the pretext of modernization. As a result, the region has witnessed the emergence of several insurgent groups, who believe that the modernization attempts are incompatible with the society’s nature and traditions. Therefore, Iran’s south-eastern region has been in a constant state of tension.
Sectarian and ethnic diversities have also been a source of tension as the region is inhabited by both Shiites and Sunnis. The sectarian difference adds a new dimension to the animosity between Sunni Baluchis and Shiite Sistanis. The predominantly Shiite Sistanis supported by the central government, which is considered a sort of discrimination by the Baluchi ethnic group.
The Baluchi Ethnic Group
| Rigi is one of the most important Baluchi tribes. |
The Baluchis can be divided into three groups. First, there are the Baluchi peasants, who constitute less than half of the tribes, and who depend on agriculture, stock raising and manual crafts; second, there are tribal-peasant Baluchis, who constitute around 35 percent of the population, and they combine the abovementioned activities with moving in summer and winter; and third, there are Bedouin Baluchis, who are living the purely Bedouin lifestyle, and their activities are confined to stock raising and some manual crafts. And given the rough geography of the region and the lack of resources, Baluchi Bedouins of south-east Iran are those who move the most among Iran’s tribes.
Among the most important Baluchi tribes is that to which Jundullah’s leader belongs, and it is known as the Rigi tribe.
Despite its big size and small population, the Sistan-Baluchistan province is considered a source of trouble because of its long borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are sources of tension themselves.
The nationalist movements in both Pakistan and Afghanistan have had a strong influence of the Baluchis of Iran.
The growing national sentiment among the Sunni Baluchis of the Sistan-Baluchistan province has found an enemy in Shiite Sistanis, which resulted in a series of serious clashes between the two ethnic groups. The grave situation could have turned into a civil war if it was not for the efforts of moderate Sunni leaders, such as Molawi Abdel-Hamid.
Malek Serag, Editor-in-chief of the Pakistani Daily Times, said in an interview with the German Radio that the border between Iran and Pakistan is not an obstacle in the face of Abdulmalek Rigi and his group, who cross the border daily effortlessly as both countries cannot fully control the border.
Abdulmalek Rigi has lead the Jundallah group for 27 years. Rigi studied in the religious school of Pakistan and he speaks Urdu fluently. The Sunni leader is well-known in Pakistani Baluchistan, and he has strong relations with a number of Pakistani groups and figures as he spent long time in Karachi.While studying in Pakistan, Rigi came in touch with extremist groups that operate actively in both Pakistan and Iran.
There is no doubt that Rigi’s support base is located in Pakistan, which is confirmed by the Iranian government. Jundallah claims that it is a reformist group that aim to end the sectarian and ethnic discrimination in Baluchistan.
Yet, what raises doubts is that the group was established outside Iran and that it is funded and supported by foreign countries and terrorist groups. Also, the timing of its attacks indicates that it is being manipulated by external players as part of a bigger plan that serves regional and international powers.
Although Rigi’s group claim that they represent the Baluchis of Iran and use their suffering as a propaganda tool, they do not offer any projects that can truly alleviate this distress. Instead, the extremist group considers moderate Baluchis enemies and use them as a justification to foment unrest and tension in the region.
Meeting with Tribal Leaders
| Jundullah’s attack targeted the fifth meeting between Shoshtari and tribal leaders. |
Notably, president Ahmedinejad’s projects for alleviating the suffering of the unprivileged people in remote provinces, including Baluchistan, had a great impact on the delicate situation in the border area.
The reconciliation effort culminated in a series of meetings between government officials and military leaders on the one hand and tribal leaders of both the Sunni and Shiite communities on the other.
According to Colonel Sherif, the Public Relations Officer of the Revolutionary Guards, Jundullah’s attack targeted the fifth meeting between Noor Ali Shoshtari and tribal leaders.
Ahmedinejad’s government has endeavored to attract the moderate leaders from both the Sistani and Baluchi ethnic groups to support the government’s development projects, help settling the Bedouin tribes, and improving the living standards in the region.
Therefore, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards considered the terrorist attack an attempt to nullify the government’s efforts to achieve national unity and development in the border province. Given the ongoing reconciliation process, there is a widely held belief that such an attack lacked any sense of national belonging.
Jundullah’s attack, however, revealed the security flaws in the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence system; there was a serious security gap in guarding the meeting, which was attended by the Guards’ leaders. Such a fatal mistake would surely tarnish the history of the Revolutionary Guards, to whom the Islamic Republic entrusts securing the top figures in the political system as well as protecting the system from its internal and external enemies.
Unprecedented Attack
| Reformists call for integrating the Revolutionary Guards into the regular army. |
Targeting the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards happens for the first time since the end of the Iraq-Iran war, which is considered an alarming message from the opponents of the system. The presence of the NATO forces and Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan on the one hand and the Jundullah group on the other is a source of problems for Iran.
The Defense and Foreign Affairs committee in the Iranian parliament called for cutting the aid given to Pakistan. Yet, the meetings of Iran’s foreign affairs minister and interior minister with the Pakistani government culminate in the latter promising to offer all the possible help to secure the border with Iran.
The attack killed two senior figures: Noor Ali Shoshtari – deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards’ ground forces and the commander of the Quds camp, the Guards’ biggest base, and Ragab Ali Mohamed Zadeh – head of the Revolutionary Guards’ force in Sistan-Baluchistan. Causalities included other high ranking commanders, such as Colonel Hussein Muradi and Colonel Ali Arabi.
It is important to note that the Revolutionary Guards have a unique structure that distinguishes it from the regular army.
The formation of the elite forces was inspire by the Shiite resistance to the Sunni Caliphate, which depended on multi-task groups that differ in makeup and weaponry and that are highly secretive.
The fervent youth were trained in the camps of revolutionaries in different parts of the world, where they learned the techniques of guerilla and urban warfare. After completing their training, the young combatants were brought back home to defend the leaders of the Islamic Revolution, with unrelenting loyalty to the revolution and its goals.
The Revolutionary Guards are ideologically oriented combatants in the sense that their task is not confined to defending their country; rather, they are committed to ensuring stability, tracing the enemies of the revolution, developing the country, and exporting the revolution. The Mobilization Resistance Forces (Basij) are subordinate to the Revolutionary Guards, and they play a complementary role.
The Revolutionary Guards play an active role in Iran’s cultural life as they issue a number of magazines and newspapers, and they own a radio station and a printing house. Also, they usually have big TV slots on national channels.
On the education level, the Revolutionary Guards have established the Imam Hussein University, which teaches engineering, medicine, mass communication, humanities and business administration as well as military sciences.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have clear fingerprints on the system’s foreign relations as they have used the diplomatic coverage offered by the state to export the revolution to other countries. Their activities in this regard varied between covert political or military intervention to support Islamist revolutionaries in other countries, attacks targeting Western interests in different parts of the world, secret operations against conservative Arab governments, assassinating the system’s opponents abroad, recruiting local opposition groups, and training radical Islamists.
Iran’s Reformists have been calling for either dissolving the Revolutionary Guards or integrating them into the regular army. Yet, the elite forces have totally rejected such suggestions, given the major role they had played in the Iran-Iraq war.
The Revolutionary Guards’ power has been consolidated by their strong relationship with the top figures in the political system, which gives them a considerable amount of influence on the political, economic, social and cultural spheres.
The Revolutionary Guards’ power is demonstrated by the military parades they hold in different occasions, particularly the anniversaries of Imam Hussein’s birth and martyrdom.
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