By ABDULLAH AL-SULTAN
A common man may think that Iran is populated by a single
race or ethnic group, but in fact there are several ethnic groups other
than Persians in Iran.
They include Arabs, Kurds, Lurs, Baluchs,
Gilanis, Turkmen (Turkish), Gilakis, Azris and Mazandaranis besides
other smaller communities. The Persians are in a majority. Most of the
minority communities are living on the fringes of the country. Their
regions were annexed by Iran in the past.
Persians regard Sunni
Muslims as the second-rate citizens. Sunnis are made up mostly of
Baluchs, Arabs and Turkmen. The Shiite Iranian government treats them
with discrimination because of their Sunni identity. They are denied
their legitimate political, legal, constitutional, social, cultural and
economic rights. Their miseries multiply because of lack of support or
assistance from within or outside the country. The Sunnis had sided with
Khomeini in the revolution against the Shah of Iran. But he turned
against them after the revolution and refused to honor his promises made
to them.
Their presence in the areas close to borders of the
county strengthened their affinity to the countries of their origin.
Persians always drive the Sunni populations to the borders of the
country because of sectarian reasons. In fact, the policy of driving out
Sunni communities from central regions to distant border areas was a
policy adopted originally by the Safavid rulers. (Safavid dynasty ruled
Iran from 1501 to 1722.) The government’s policy till now has been to
cleanse major cities and central regions of Sunni communities and
relocate them to peripheral areas as much as possible.
The
20-million strong Sunnis are the largest minority accounting for 35
percent of the 70 million Iranian population. In fact, the number of
Sunnis is much higher than the official figures. However, they are
economically poor, less educated and live far away from the capital
city. Hated by the Shiite majority, the Sunni districts are neglected —
they lack utilities, basic amenities and other essential services.
Sunnis are even denied the right to build mosques or religious schools.
Building a Sunni school or a religious madrasa is considered an
unpardonable crime. Existing Sunni mosques are subjected to close
monitoring. Many of them were demolished on the pretext that they were
built for purposes other than worshipping or without a specific license
needed for a mosque. Some times a mosque is demolished on the pretext
that its imam has foreign allegiance.
On the other hand, Shiites
are allowed to build Husainiats (small Shiite mosques) inside Sunni
districts to the chagrin of the Sunni population.
Large cities
such as Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz do not have even a single Sunni
mosque. The official explanation is that Sunnis can pray at Shiite
mosques and it will promote unity among them (although a truth, in this
context it is a falsehood.)
While no Sunni mosques are permitted,
these cities have Jewish synagogues, Christian churches and
Zoroastrianism temples. This is nothing but the arrogant oppression of
the Sunnis (religions in Iran are Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Bahaism
and Zoroastrianism.)
Iranians have a perverted and dictatorial
Shiite regime. Its domestic and foreign policies are based on strategic
politics, racist nationalism and sectarianism and the victims are
non-Persian Sunnis in that country.
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