Internet and access cutoff, and ignorance of the situation of Sistan and Baluchestan protesters
Four days after the shooting of fuel tankers at the border point of Askan, Saravan province, the atmosphere in various cities of Sistan and Baluchestan province is extremely security-conscious. The internet is down in many cities of the province, and there is no news about the status of the detainees and the injured.
There is no information on the number of people killed in the protests of the past few days.
Abdullah Arif, the director of the Baloch Activists Campaign, confirmed in an interview with Radio Farda that two people were killed and one was injured in Qala Bid and Shoro during Wednesday's protests. He said that on Thursday, he and the Baloch Activists Campaign received reports that more than 15 protesters had been killed. However, due to the internet outage and the blockage of communication routes, as well as the lack of clarity on the identities of the dead, he cannot confirm these reports.
On Monday, March 25, IRGC forces opened fire on fuel tankers protesting the closure of a border crossing in Sistan and Baluchestan province, southeast of the Iranian border. Protests over the shooting, which left at least 10 people dead and five injured, continue in various cities in Sistan and Baluchestan, while Ahmad Taheri, the commander of the Sistan and Baluchestan police force, announced the “end of the unrest” and that the police were “under control.”
Abdullah Arif, the director of the Baloch activists' campaign, however, told Radio Farda: "The security situation is very tense and the situation is very tense, because citizens of other cities in Sistan and Baluchistan province went on strike in many cities in response to a call made by Baloch civil activists in support of the fuel tankers and the killed fuel tankers. Some citizens gathered in front of police stations or IRGC bases, and some of these gatherings turned violent, and in some cities, citizens entered the police stations. In any case, citizens are very angry about this situation and the killings that are happening in Balochistan, and no one is being held accountable."
Videos of some protesters entering a checkpoint in Zahedan and other cities in Sistan and Baluchestan province have been posted on social media. According to the posted videos, protesters have been targeted with tear gas and live ammunition. Abdullah Aref says: "Now that the internet has been cut off, the situation is completely secure, and the last message sent to the Baloch activists' campaign by a citizen was from Sarjangal, where people had gathered, and there had been shooting at the checkpoint, and Mersad entered the city. They said that the situation was very bad and it was unclear what would happen to us, and that the internet was also being cut off. This is the last message we received from a citizen yesterday, and there has been no news to this day. The images that have been posted are from yesterday until last night, because until last night, the internet was slow and would go down and then come back up, but today the internet is completely down and we cannot receive any messages, unless someone sent a series of messages yesterday." "The latest news we have is that approximately 15 people have been killed, and a number of women have also been injured by shotgun pellets in the city of Zahedan. There have been many arrests and detentions that we unfortunately cannot confirm, because unfortunately we do not have any information about these people and because the internet is slow or down, we cannot confirm."
Mawlawi Abdul Hamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan and the most prominent Sunni cleric in Iran, has issued an audio message calling on people to remain calm and restrained, and to control their emotions and refrain from attacking public offices. He has called on officials to impartially investigate Monday's incident and pay attention to the livelihood and employment situation in Sistan and Baluchestan province.
At the same time, Abuzar Mehdi Nakhaei, the governor of Zahedan, has called the killed fuel tankers fake deaths. Ahmad Ali Mohabati, the governor of Sistan and Baluchestan, also claimed in an interview with IRNA that "of the three people who were killed in this incident, two were in Pakistan and only one was in this incident."
Malek Fazeli, a representative from Saravan in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also announced the number of dead at three, saying that one person died on the other side of the border, one person died at the scene of the incident, and 10 people were injured, one of whom died of bleeding while being transferred to Saravan Hospital.
These contradictory statements by the authorities of Sistan and Baluchestan province come at a time when Irfan Qarshin, the commissioner of Makran district in the Kharan region of Pakistan's Baluchestan province, denied in an interview with Radio Farda that the country's border guards had fired on the fuel tankers. Abdullah Arif said: "The governor announced that only three people were killed and there was no massacre. I don't know if three people were killed, is this three too few? We have hundreds of witnesses, there are live videos that clearly show that the shooting was brutal. There are 10 bodies of the fuel tankers who were killed and 5 people are injured."
Mr. Arif says: "If the shooting was from Pakistan, why didn't the Islamic Republic of Iran take any action? Why didn't they call the Pakistani ambassador to the Foreign Ministry? Why don't they support the Baloch killed? If they claim that Pakistan killed them, why don't they take any action against Pakistan? All evidence shows that the governor's words are not true and they are trying to handle all issues with the security method as usual. They are issuing statements that are completely far from reality."
Videos posted on social media show protesters burning a photo of Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic. Saravan, Khash, Iranshahr, Zahedan, Qale Bid, Shoro, Sarjangal, and Mirjaveh are among the cities where protest rallies have taken place, according to images posted on social media.
At the same time, a number of citizens of Sistan and Baluchestan province have received a warning text message; the text message was sent by the Center for Combating Cybercrimes and addressed to the protesting citizens: "Your illegal activities in publishing and republishing criminal content in cyberspace, especially the social network WhatsApp, have been proven. If you repeat it and ignore the warning, you will be prosecuted."
Abdullah Aref says: "Now the demands have gone beyond supporting the families of the killed, and civil activists in the province are raising a series of demands. They are demanding that the Balochistan Security Department be stripped of its authority, because the province's borders are completely in the hands of the IRGC. The IRGC bases be dismantled from the borders and handed over to the border guards and border residents, as well as the arrest and disrobing of the officers and commanders of the Balochistan border massacre, so that they can be tried publicly. Their other demands include declaring a general amnesty for all protesters and releasing all political and innocent prisoners. They want the blood money to be paid and the representative of the leadership, Ayatollah Mahami, who is creating religious hatred in the province, to be dismissed. They have said that they will continue to protest until these demands are met, but it is not clear whether the internet will be completely suppressed with this definitive situation. The situation is not entirely clear."
Provincial officials have described the protesters as enemies or deceived, and Saeed Tajlili, the acting governor of Saravan, has called them “villains.” Abdullah Aref says, “The acting governor of Saravan called the families of the victims of the fuel tanker attack villains because they had entered the governor’s office. We expected the Islamic Republic and provincial officials to console the people and resolve the issue peacefully, but with the way things are going and the Islamic Republic is trying to resolve the issues in a security-based manner, these protests will be severely suppressed. Based on the evidence and the protests in other cities in Iran in November and other protests that were severely suppressed, it is likely that the Islamic Republic of Iran and provincial and security officials will also severely suppress these protests. There will definitely be deaths, arrests, and injuries.”
The protests of November last year, which were initially a reaction to the sudden increase in gasoline prices, quickly changed direction and targeted the Islamic Republic government. The internet was cut off and the protests were met with severe repression, with hundreds of men, women, and even children killed over five days.
Iran's Interior Minister has said that between 200 and 225 people were killed in these protests, but Amnesty International, announcing the identities of at least 304 of those killed, has emphasized that the number of those killed may be much higher.
Reuters, however, reported that at least 1,500 people were killed in the November 2019 protests, and quoted "three sources close to Khamenei's inner circle" and "a fourth official" as saying that the leader of the Islamic Republic had told senior officials in the country to do "whatever is necessary to stop" the protests.
Source: Radio Farda
