In the book Avesta, the eleventh land was created by Ahura Mazda, and it is also the birthplace of Rostam, the heroic warrior of the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. This mythical land is Sistan and Baluchistan, inhabited by the Sistani and Baluchi ethnic groups. The Sistanis speak the Sistani dialect and follow the Shia religion, while the Baluchis speak Baluchi and are mostly followers of the Sunni religion.

Although the province of Sistan and Baluchestan covers 11% of the total area of the country, the people of this province are still not benefiting from the facilities that exist in other provinces as they should, and are considered to be among the underprivileged areas of the country.

In this issue, an opportunity was given to have a conversation about this matter with Engineer Abdolsalam Bozorgzadeh, a journalist and former director of handicraft industries in Sistan and Baluchestan province.

As you know, our discussion topic is about the existing deprivations in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Please tell us what are the most important challenges currently present in this province?

Balochistan is not deprived, in my opinion, it is oppressed and the resources of this province have not been utilized for development.

Why?

In my opinion, this issue stems from the type of perspective that central governments in Iran have had towards Balochistan throughout our country’s history. This type of perspective has continued even after the revolution. Most of the time, governments did not trust the Baloch people and always thought that if they were to remove Balochistan from deprivation and focus on its development, the Baloch people might start thinking about separatism and seeking independence. This is despite the fact that the Baloch people have always taken pride in being Iranian, and this is a misconception. The Baloch people have sacrificed their lives in defense of the country’s borders.

On the other hand, it is believed that Balochistan society is traditional and not a civil society, but we see that in all elections and in all circumstances where people were supposed to be present in the electoral scene, the Balochis even performed better than the people of the center and Tehran, proving that they are not a backward society. Although statistics show that people in Balochistan are illiterate, I must say that these people have the highest social and political literacy.

I am coming back to your question and I want to say that Baluchistan is not deprived, but the resources and capacities in this province have not been utilized. This is because both material and human resources are among the most important infrastructural factors for development, which exist in this province.

We see that this province has abundant resources and shares both water and land borders with its neighbors, and has a four-season climate. The diversity of agricultural products in this province is remarkable, as well as many other overlooked aspects. On the other hand, it has a significant human workforce. We have made good progress in terms of university education, but Baloch people still face limitations in pursuing higher education degrees.

What limitations?

As they have to send their children abroad or to other provinces for education, but with all of this, we have young people whose families bear high expenses for their education, but these young people cannot find a job after completing their studies.

Can you tell me how much this unemployment rate is?

According to the statistical report announced by the Statistical Center a few days ago, Kermanshah was the first province in terms of unemployment and the unemployment rate in Balochistan was reported to be around 25 or 26 percent. However, the actual statistics are higher than this, due to the fact that the method of data collection in this regard was not accurate.

In this province, most women do handicrafts such as embroidery at home, and this is a cultural norm. In the official statistical system, these individuals are considered as employed. This is while the majority of these people do not have a job that fits the definition of work, yet they are still counted in the statistics. On the other hand, we see that there are individuals with doctoral degrees who are unemployed.

I think this cannot be called deprivation because these individuals are talented and educated, but they are not employed, so we have human resources. On the other hand, we have a lot of capital, many people have put their money in banks and these wandering capital are not well managed.

Why do you think these capital resources are not being used?

One of the reasons is the lack of security for investors, on the other hand there is a lot of discrimination in giving loans or work permits, because they consider the investor’s religion and beliefs. This is while they should only pay attention to the fact that this person has come to create prosperity, now they should accept it with any ethnicity and religious orientation, on the other hand there is sometimes prejudice. Of course, sometimes there is also security confrontation with the owners of capital.

What is the share and presence of women in Balochistan?

Contrary to some beliefs, I see that women hold a significant position in Balochistan and are considered one of the investors in the family. This is because a woman’s gold is considered a financial support for the family and her jewelry is the pulse of the family’s economy.

But one of the issues that we face in Balochistan is early and underage marriages of girls!

This may have been in the past and not just specific to Balochistan. But I must say that even in that society, women had a role to play…

What role?

If at that time the thieves attacked the caravan and saw a woman, her presence would save the caravan because they would release the caravan out of respect for her. On the other hand, we see that in Balochistan we have a female governor and at least 4 women serving in high positions, which shows a positive attitude towards women and her family and husband have all allowed her to work in this position. This is a sign of attention and civility towards women. These are concrete examples. Unfortunately, in media and filmmaking, less attention has been paid to the positive aspects of this province.

Do you know what the main reason for a large number of people not having identification cards in this province is and where the root of this problem lies?

This has been discussed many times, looking at this issue from a demographic and ethnic perspective is not important and unfortunately some identity documents have been invalidated in certain situations, which is part of these events and affects the elections and the candidates. Of course, the representatives of the parliament are following up on this reality.

Baluchistan is considered a transit route for narcotics. How can we confront this problem?

To solve this problem, efforts have been made through hardware even before the revolution, and this is not only specific to Baluchistan, but even in Khorasan, this problem exists. But I believe we should do something to make small and large retailers understand that this is not a good practice. In fact, cultural work should be done on this issue, and even at the international level, cultural work on this problem has not been done well. Of course, the mafia powers are doing their own work, but my focus is on cultural awareness among the people, because if people do not cooperate, it becomes harder for mafia groups to smuggle drugs and they move to other places.

On the other hand, the border capacity can be an opportunity for the economic development of the entire country and it must be utilized. The most important capacity of this border, and its most valuable asset, is the cultural and linguistic similarities with the Baloch people of neighboring countries, which have not been utilized.

This issue leads to good trade on both sides of the border and there is no longer a place for drug trafficking, but because of this wrong mindset of separatism and the belief that this event and interdependence will lead to the separation of the Baloch people from the country, they are trying to prevent this from happening. Even attempts have been made to create hatred between the Baloch on both sides of the border.

How prevalent are health problems in this province or are diseases like malaria still a problem?

Yes! We haven’t heard anything about malaria. Of course, malaria has been completely eradicated, as it is caused by stagnant water…

I apologize for interrupting you; I am not as familiar as you are with this province, but I am somewhat familiar and I would like to know what the current health issues are at the moment.

Well, we still have a lot of problems regarding health issues. Maybe someone lives in an apartment, but they also keep chickens and turkeys. What I mean is that the culture of hygiene is not fully observed in city life, but not for malaria, as this disease has been controlled in other parts of the world.

As you know, Balochistan does not end at Zahedan and when we enter villages, we are faced with health issues even in the distances between cities, which are worth considering and perhaps we are deprived in this regard; they say!

During the time of Mr. Ahmadinejad, I was the manager of handicraft industries and for this reason, we discussed employment opportunities for villages. As a result, I have a list of approximately 5,000 villages in this province, all of which have basic facilities. Even villages with more than 20 households have electricity. I am not defending the fact that there may be no hospital in the same village that has electricity. But do not forget that there are also health problems in Tehran. We are facing a shortage of medicine throughout the country.

What is the issue of polygamy?

This issue varies in different cities, and in some cities, a man who has multiple wives is more criticized, but in some cities, it may not be the case. In any case, a proper survey should be conducted in this regard to be able to talk about it. Some sources may even say that it is possible to have multiple wives, but it all depends on which city we are in. For example, in Khash or Zahedan, this issue may be more easily accepted, but it does not mean that the Baloch people have a good attitude towards the phenomenon of polygamy and having multiple wives.

Mr. Bozorgzadeh, thank you for the opportunity you have given us…