sarjau: Federalism will not benefit the Baluch,

Mehrab Sarjov

What the Persian elites tell the outside world about the Baluch is a one-sided story. The Baluch aspiration for national liberation is too important to be ignored. Iran’s apparent contradictory feature is not sustainable.

Iran is facing internal and external challenges; it has survived; one can explain its survival in the way the international relations and the intergovernmental organisation operates.

No state, strong or weak, is willing to support ethnic nationalists for fear that it may invite trouble for itself. However, in many cases, nationalists have been able to appeal to outside powers for help against a member of the United Nations.

But international politics and diplomacy offer limited protection to Iran's territorial stability against the Baluch demand for national self-determination.

The nature of the Baluch challenges to Iran;

The Baluch are struggling to preserve their identity, economy, and way of life. For a Baluch, loyalty to the Baluch identity and Baluchistan is significantly more important than Iran.

The Baluch national identity has had the same process as Iranian or Persian identity. Iran is a multi-national state. The Iranian identity is relatively recent, and the Baluch do not substitute their identity, neither they willing to share their natural resources with Persian colonisers. Iran’s ethnics groups have fixed identities, and they are the majority in their historical territories.

The current Iranian population is culturally divided. Cultural distinct groups can cooperate, but the cultural distinctions need to be treated as political resources and related to a political system that appropriately encourages their use.

There are three ways appeals in which the Baluch nation can change the distribution of state resources.

Tehran imposes all of the political decisions on the peripheries.

Groups of The Baluch politicians with affiliation with the Islamic Republic, monarchist, communist parties do not see Baluchistan's backwardness in the centralised governance. They directly appeal for help to someone who controls power in Tehran. They believe that if there are several Baluch at the head of the ministry that will be enough to solve Baluchistan's backwardness.

They argue that the presence of several Baluch in the ministries means to achieve the desired position in Tehran and a role in the decision-making process, and the Baluch can achieve their representation in the distribution of development projects or educational facilities.

A small group that has dominated the Baluchistan economy and politics always insists on centralised government.

The state institutions' roles are poorly defined and loosely separated from one another. The Persian colonial rule in Baluchistan favours Shiite over Sunni; it favours the Persian over the Baluch; therefore, the religious and ethnic conflicts have emerged.

The state institutions are overwhelmed by religious, corrupt, non-political forces, nepotism, ethnic rivalry, a religious division at every level, and factional conflicts; one can see wider conflict is emerging.

The second way could be to try to reduce the power of the central government through federalism.

The third way is total independence.

Baluchistan has valuable resources such as minerals, and it is on the trade route, therefore, independence is an attractive option for the Baluch. In the case of Baluch in Iran, it is gross discrimination against the Baluch on the part of the Iranian government that should give rise to demands for independence.

When the Baluch opts for independence, the dominant groups in Tehran will emphasize the importance of federalism. The Baluch privilege elites underscore autonomy because they want to preserve their privileges and minority that favourite the greater centralism.

The struggle for independence in Baluchistan overwhelmingly relies on local resources and popular support all over the world; on the other hand, central government support is limited. Control of institutions such as the judiciary, army and police, and bureaucracy means little without the local population.

The establishment of federalist parties in Baluchistan can eliminate access to resources for the Baluch independence movement and provides a rallying point for pro-Iranian Baluch to regroup around federalism with centralist parties' support. And set a stage for a future conflict between pro and against Iran.

The Baluch nation is not immune from internal conflict; the state control mass resources; if it failed to win the Baluch loyalty, it can buy tribesmen, Mullah, and create its brand of the Baluch nationalist parties in Baluchistan. Alongside that The Iranian opposition will give clear pre-eminence to the Baluch federalists.

While they are trying to erode the Baluch movement for independence, the Persian may adopt delicate policies they prevent the Baluch independent movement challenges by recognizing the legitimacy of federalism; under federalism, the government will be able to govern Iran with the continuation of existing Persian-dominated social, economic, and political institutions.

Federalism will not benefit the Baluch, but federalism is a tool to destruct the people and prevent the disintegration of a failed state.

Under federalism, the Baluch will not control the Baluchistan natural resources, boundaries, land, and internal-external migration. Tehran will be in charge of the state budget, development, and population movement.

The Baluch will not get equal job opportunities. The Baluch loses its identity; they play no part in political competition and little opportunity to develop a clear identity. But with independence, the Baluch will find themselves in charge of a sovereign state.

It is a mistake to believe that Iran will promote and develop ethnic identities; after all, the Iranian elites have suppressed ethnic identities for so long.

Turks and Kurds in Iran may favourite federalism because they can dominate the central government. The Baluch inside Iran does not have such an opportunity. The Baluch should fear domination because the Baluch do have a small population and no one to ally against the strong one.

The ethnic Turk in Iran favours federalism because they are confident the Persians cannot dominate other ethnicities without their support. On the other hand, under federalism, the Baluch will not dominate even Baluchistan politics. The Baluch will remain under Persian domination.

Federalism will provide stability to Iran and weaken the struggle for independence that willing to confront the state head-on. The Baluch are not alone who are suffering in Iran slightest shift toward The Baluch, Arab, and Kurd independent movements can quickly destabilise Iran shift power toward these occupied nations.

It is not easy to move toward a bid for independence, and motion succeeds only in a situation of general political crisis and foreign involvement; even in politically favorable circumstances, the struggle for an independent Baluchistan is hard to develop into the independence movement. A co-operation between The Baluch, Arab, Turk, Kurd, and others into federalism will make it difficult for the Baluch and Arab Kurd independence movements to mount significant challenges. There are considerable resources distributed among federalist parties; these resources may reduce the intensity of independence movements.

Three elements prevent independent movements from achieving their goal.

1- The nationalist movement lacks local support to link-local conflicts for action against the central government and has no power to challenge the state.

2- The second element is the roles of assimilated Baluch into Persian culture.

3- Mobilisation of the nation around personality and creating the cult figure. It is easy for Tehran to bargain with the cult leader. A cult can use an independence stance as a bargaining tactic.

To reduce the challenges to Persian dominated state, The Iranian have successfully blocked the development of an effective nationalist party in Baluchistan. But the numbers of ethnic units with national identities are not small the threat of anyone or all of them poses a serious threat to Iran's integrity.

The Baluch, Arab, Kurds can achieve more when they are able to mobilise popular support based on the decolonisation of their homeland. The Persian elites have created conditions that favourite independence movement in Baluchistan, Al-Ahvaz, and Kurdistan.

Conclusion

One should remember that federalist parties are not necessarily nationalist movements. The federalist structure exists in many countries without a cultural or political conflict; it often occurs between regionally based patrons.

The Baluch federalists’ parties justify their actions in terms of policy disputes with Tehran. The federalism constructed on Iran’s political structure rather, than the Baluch identity that the Baluch attention should concentrate.

Federalist parties can prevent Iran's disintegration. The Baluch struggle is valuable as a bargaining tactic by federalist parties than as a genuine bid for independence.

Mehrab, Sarjov