The doctrine of self-determination justifies the breakup of Iran into more homogenous states.
The Baluch sad story began in 1839; Capital of Baluchistan (Kalat) was attacked by British forces; the Khan of Baluch was killed, and his state was divided and annexed into neighbouring kingdoms. The second disturbance into Baluchistan occurred in 1872 when the British imposed Goldsmid line, and the western part of Baluchistan was gifted to the Persian king; the third intrusion was the Seistan Boundary commission in 1904 when British gifted the northern part of Baluchistan again this time to Afghan king.
The Baluch has never recognised the Persian rules, and the Baluch in the western Baluchistan had resisted the Persian continuous attacks for more than half-century (1872-1928). The Persian could not administrate the western Baluchistan before the 1928 invasion.
Three factors have turned the Baluch into minorities:
The first is conquest and division between three states, and again the division of the Baluch within a state between different administrations units.
The second was the colonisation of Baluchistan: the Persian coloniser brought a large number of Persian and Shiite settler into Baluchistan and established colonies for the convenience of Shiite Persian who has had the historical hostility with the Baluch. In this process, Baluchistan was divided into different administrative units.
The third is immigration: people from all over Iran have been transported into Baluchistan and settled in the areas which have already inhabited by the Baluch, and the Baluch people were expelled from their ancestral homeland. Some have moved into Baluchistan in search of economic opportunity.
For the millennia the Baluch were ruled by local dynasties, the rules may or may not extracted revenues, but in the most respects left their subjects alone as long as they did not cause a problem for rules.
The Baluch distinctive culture, social organisation and collective identities survived. People generally agreed to their authorities unless they became oppressive or immoral.
The era of democracy and challenges to Persian rule,
The foreign rules are unjust, therefore, illegitimate. All nations have the right to self-determination; Baluchistan should be the expression and embodiment of the Baluch nation.
The Persian elites have made it their duty to build a single nation from different linguistic and cultural homogenous nationality who have been residing in their ancestral homelands inside Iran's political boundaries by assimilation and elimination. It is still a policy to assimilate the Baluch, and they believe it is the Baluch duty to assimilate.
The Baluch has been discouraged from political and cultural self-preservation. According to Persian, unassimilated Baluch is a challenge to the Iran national security, therefore, the Baluch must be assimilated to the Persian sponsored Iranian Nationalism, the only acceptable alternative to assimilation is passivity. The Baluch inside Iran were expected to assimilate as individuals into the Persian.
After the Second World War, many states have given up the idea of a homogenous nation and opened political space for their minority. At the same time, many nations enjoyed the national right to self-determination, political mobilisation and struggled for national liberation and achieved their goals.
The doctrine of national self-determination has legitimised the claim to statehood of perilously subordinated people. The doctrine of self-determination justifies the breakup of Iran into many homogenous states.
The idea of one state with state-sponsored language, culture and state-sponsored Nationalism is experiencing a decline. Subordinated Nations (Baluch, Arab, Kurd and Turk) are mobilising their masses for political action to claims states for themselves.
In the past, with some success, the Persian had delegitimized and suppressed the Baluch claim, but their attempt to suppress and delegitimize the Baluch claim is collapsing. The Baluch claim to national self-determination has attracted wider interest, public support and the world is concerned for the south Asia security.
The erosion of the old empire style state, like Iran, has stimulated Baluch demand for a separate state. Nothing is on the horizon of the world affairs to diminish the intensity of the Baluch demand for independent Baluchistan.
Mehrab Sarjov is a political activist based in London,
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