India must refrain from investment in Chabar-Baluchistan
Baluchistan has been constantly under brutal harassment by the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime also has been implementing various projects without any hesitations to wipe out the identity of Baluch in Baluchistan.
The deliberate gradual use of the term “SISTAN” instead of BALUCHISTAN in official correspondents and speeches are the testimony to eliminate by design the historical name of the land, Baluchistan. The propagation / imposition of the Shiite religion in Baluchistan even in the far flung areas where people have no clue on Shi’ism, is a part an Anti-Baluch Policy by the Iranian regime. In Chabar, chillingly the Non-Baluch population is on the rise.
We are strongly opposed to all mega projects in Baluchistan, namely the “Iran-India Project” in Chabar. The Baluch nation for its survival and for the protection and defense of its ancestral land, forcefully demands from India to refrain from investing in the “Chabar Project” and to uphold its moral and humanitarian obligations and also its political responsibilities towards Baluchistan.
India must refrain from investment in Chabar-Baluchistan
Chabar is a port in Baluchistan under the Iranian occupation. On 23rd May 2016 an economic pact was signed in Tehran, far away from the Port City of Chabar between Iran, India and Afghanistan.
India pledged to invest a staggering amount of $200 million in the Chabar Port. Chabar and other ports in the Iranian occupied Baluchistan for their strategic locations are magnets for foreign investments. Last week, the head of Supreme Council for Free Trade Area, Mr Akbar Turkaan reiterated the strategic and economic importance of Chabar and Baluchistan. He said that Chabar is the economic corridor of Iran-India.
The Iranian regime has sanctioned over 50 hectares of land in the Makoran coasts of Baluchistan to the Afghan investors. It is reported that at least 130 Afghan companies are registered by the Iranian for that purpose. The current capacity of Chabar port due to lack of international investment is less than 5 million tonnes per year. The Iran-India pact is to increase the capacity of Chabar port to 20 million tonnes a year if ever it is let to succeed.
Iran after the international sanctions for its deceptive desire on nuclear weaponization programme, is in a dire need to attract foreign investments.
The Iranian president during the 7th BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Ufa on 8-9 July 2015 pleaded to no avail with the prime minister of India to invest $8 billion in Iran. Currently the international investors are reluctant to invest in Iran. Adam -Jubin, the American Under Secretary for financial information and the fight against terrorism on Wed 26th May 2016 said that companies are afraid of corruption in Iran, not the sanctions.
Chabar as a potential port city is currently the focus of Iranian regime for mega developments to attract some international investors. But such mega projects are intrinsically contradictory to the Baluch identity and existence. Therefore India and for this matter any country must not ignore the devastating impact of Chabar project on demographic change in Baluchistan. All mega projects unavoidably attract a large number of people for their operations, so the Chabar project is no exemption. Baluchistan for its vast land and its abundant natural resources such as Gold, Copper, Titanium, Oil, Gas . . . and for its long coasts is potentially a suitable place for mega projects. But Baluchistan due to its small and scattered population cannot sustain absorbing a large work-force, and inevitably suffers detrimentally from rapid demographic change.
On Friday 20th May 2016, ISNA (Iranian Student News Agency) reported that the Iranian Minister for Transport and Urban Development along with the Defense Minister, the Trade, Industry and Mines Minister and the First Deputy of the Iranian President traveled to Chabar to join the Heads of the Free Zones of Indian Ocean Rim summit. The Minster for Transport and Urban Development Mr Abaas Akhondi in the summit said that Baluchistan has an enormous capacity to absorb a large number of people. He was offering assurance that a very large number will come to Baluchistan.
What is clear is that Iran firmly decided to implement it policy to bring a very large, though disproportionate number of work force / people from other parts of Iran to Baluchistan without delays so the Baluch people in their ancestral land become not only a minority but total strangers. The Chabar Project is part of a systematic policy by the Iranian occupiers against the Baluch nation. Therefore India must fully consider the real concerns of the Baluch people in which their existence and their identity absolutely depends on.
Baluchistan has been constantly under brutal harassment by the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime also has been implementing various projects without any hesitations to wipe out the identity of Baluch in Baluchistan. The deliberate gradual use of the term “SISTAN” instead of BALUCHISTAN in official correspondents and speeches are the testimony to eliminate by design the historical name of the land, Baluchistan. The propagation / imposition of the Shiite religion in Baluchistan even in the far flung areas where people have no clue on Shi’ism, is a part an Anti-Baluch Policy by the Iranian regime. In Chabar, chillingly the Non-Baluch population is on the rise.
We are strongly opposed to all mega projects in Baluchistan, namely the “Iran-India Project” in Chabar. The Baluch nation for its survival and for the protection and defense of its ancestral land, forcefully demands from India to refrain from investing in the “Chabar Project” and to uphold its moral and humanitarian obligations and also its political responsibilities towards Baluchistan.
Baluchistan National Movement
(Baluchistan under the Iranian Occupation)
1st June 2016
