February 26, 2021
Violent attacks on government offices and Pasdar bases have erupted across Sistan va Baluchestan province, where mobs of Baluchis have protested the military’s shooting of “smugglers” trying to carry fuel into Pakistan.
There have been many protests across the country in recent years over water shortages, gasoline prices and various regime policies, but this was believed to be the first generated by smugglers. Smuggling is a major industry in the province, with fuel and livestock going into Pakistan and drugs coming out.
The uprising started Monday, February 22, when Pasdaran at the border fired at a band of smugglers trying to spirit fuel from Iran into Pakistan, where fuel sells for many times what it sells for in Iran.
The Iranian government denied firing on any one and officials both in the province and in Tehran accused Pakistani authorities of shooting smugglers. Pakistan said not a single Pakistani border guard fired even a single shot. Pakistan also said that one person injured by the Pasdaran was a Pakistani citizen. Iran has not announced filing a complaint with Pakistan, as is normal when border problems erupt on the Pakistani side.
The Baluchi community didn’t blame Pakistan for anything. Angry citizens stormed the Iranian governor’s office in Saravan the next day, trashing the building. Videos showed men screaming “Allahu akbar” as they punched through glass doors, yanked out air conditioners and smashed office furniture, throwing loose objects they found all over the place.
In successive days, enraged Baluchis rose up in Iranshahr, Mirjavah, Mehrestan and the provincial capital of Zahedan.
The main targets were government buildings, police stations and Pasdar bases. Some of the rioters were reportedly equipped with grenade launchers as well as light arms, making the attacks veritable military operations.
On Wednesday, the government shut down the mobile phone network across the province, Since the province gets access to the internet almost exclusively by telephone, that had the effect of severing internet links. The impact was to make it almost impossible for local citizens to coordinate protests. News reports said the phone network was back up Saturday, suggesting that the government believed it had regained control after five days of disorder.
Al-Monitor said it counted 12 deaths over the week in the province, but there were many other reports and no way to be certain about casualty counts. In the initial incident at the border, the government said two smugglers had been killed by the “Pakistani” shooting. But the Baluchi Activist Campaign later published the names of 10 people it said had been killed and five injured by the Pasdaran.
There has not yet been any explanation of what prompted the Pasdaran to begin shooting. The border smuggling issue is complex because for a decade the Pasdaran have tolerated a certain amount of fuel smuggling, presumably to relieve some of the economic pressure in the province, the poorest in the country. The tolerated smugglers carrying fuel through legal border posts, so they actually are not “smuggling.”
No reports give an explanation for the shooting. Perhaps some people who were not “authorized smugglers” tried to sneak through the border post. Perhaps the Pasdaran found that some of the “smugglers” had avoided giving the Pasdaran their cut of the profits.
