The Islamic Republic of Iran is creating civil war between Sunni and Shia in Iran

By Reza Hossein Borr

London, 15 April, 08--Following the executions of two innocent religious leaders in Baluchistan on 9 April, a huge explosion on 13 April rocked Shiraz, the capital of Fars province, in which dozens of people were killed and injured.  While the Iranian government tried to imply that the explosion was caused by some ammunitions left in the building after an exhibition, the people who witnessed the explosion claimed that it looked more like a planned terrorist activity. Explosion of stored ammunitions usually happen one after another when the explosion of one device triggers the explosion of the next one but in this case, there was only one explosion that created a huge and deep hole in the ground. 

The place that was the target of explosion was the centre of organised activities against Bahais and Sunnis. Anjavi, the leader of this centre, is a controversial character and was able to attract 3000 to 4000 people every week on Saturday evenings.  In his sermons, he despised the Sunnis and brainwashed ordinary Shia people against them. He was supported and financed by the security forces.

The fact that such provocative speeches were delivered in the centre regularly, indicates that the Iranian regime has been planning to spread hatred against the Sunnis of not only Iran but the whole world.  While there are hundreds of centres like this in Iran in which the ordinary Shia people are brainwashed against the Sunnis, the Iranian Sunnis are not allowed to defend themselves and neutralise these hate mongering sermons. This is very important to notice that a large number of Sunnis live in Shiraz and the neighbouring cities.

It was not only the common sense but also in the interest of the country to prevent the activities of such centres all over Iran but there must be a hidden agenda by the Islamic Republic of Iran to entice the Shias against the Sunnis.  How the regime can utilize this issue is not yet investigated but it is a matter of vital importance for the researchers to conduct investigations to know why the Iranian regime has established such huge centres in which religious hatred is propagated.

The Jihad  Movement of Iranian Sunnis, a new organization, accepted the responsibility for the explosion and announced its formation in the same statement as well.  This organization claimed that it has planted the bomb because the Shia Islamic Republic of Iran has executed a large number of innocent Sunnis including the two religious leaders in Balochistan.  The statement claimed that the regime has suppressed the demands of the Sunnis for their religious and national rights and has responded to their legitimate demands for fair share of power in the regime with mass arrests and mass executions.  It also warned that the Iranian regime would face the consequences of its atrocities in the Sunni areas of Iran if it does not stop the execution and oppression of innocent citizens of Iran who believe in Sunni religion.

This organization claimed that it was supposed to begin its activities in the next six months but as a result of execution of Sunni religious leaders, it had to begin its activities earlier than planned and responded to stop regime's atrocities.  It also warned that since the Shia regime of Iran is killing the innocent Sunni people, therefore, the Shia people of Iran will be its targets indiscriminately.

Some analysts who had seen the statement believed that a new political organization which intends to achieve  human rights and equal opportunities cannot put together such a huge bomb in such a short time and target innocent prayers. The two religious leaders were executed in Baluchistan on 9 April and the explosion happened on 13 April. The bomb which is estimated to have been about 30 kilos, cannot be built very quickly and specifically by the ordinary people who happened to be desperate for revenge.  They believe that the making of such a bomb requires complicated devices as well as a huge quantity of explosive materials and advanced skills and technical people who are well organised, therefore, they believe that the explosion in Shiraz was designed and implemented by a very powerful organization with access to huge amount of materials and complete access to the site. A new organization cannot do that in Iran, and therefore, it is concluded that the Iranian regime has organised this criminal explosion to generate hatred and conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shia population of Iran. 

The execution of the two Baluch Sunni religious leaders was a provocative act that only could have resulted in widespread protests by the Sunnis of Iran.  But so far, the Sunnis are not organised in political organizations and therefore, cannot engage in such huge activity.  Some analysts believe that the People's Resistance Movement of Iran (PMRI) had such facilities and skills but the spokesman of this organization flatly rejected any involvement in this event and reiterated that they have very clear defined mission statement and goals and they will never target innocent people in mosques or other conference halls.  The spokesman said that they are against any act that may involve the killing of innocent people.

The human rights activists and the Sunni leaders of Iran regularly claimed that the regime was planning inciting the Shia people against the Sunnis in order to divert the legitimate political activities of the Sunnis for their religious rights and proper share in the political power.  They have said that since the regime is facing widespread pressure by the Iranian ethnic and religious groups and it is not ready to accept their demands for legal rights, it tries to mobilise support from the Shia people of Iran by inciting them against the Sunnis.  Similarly, the Iranian national and ethnic groups, including Kurdish, Turkish, Baluch, Arabic, Lor, and Turkamenian organizations have joined forces and formed a huge national coalition: the Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran.  Again, instead of responding to their demands for equality, the regime decided to set the Fars Community against these communities to divide the Iranian people in racial terms and backgrounds.  But the Congress and the Sunnis were sufficiently vigilant to neutralise this conspiracy and announced that ethnic groups of Iran and regional political parties see the Fars Community as an ally and therefore the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for all the miseries, poverty and oppression that have happened in the country.  Yet the Iranian regime tries to set the Sunnis against the Shia instead of accepting their legitimate rights for equality.  The regime also had tried to set the Fars community against other racial and religious communities of Iran and raised the issue of territorial integrity of the country and pretended that the Iranian ethnic groups intend to break the country and therefore, through this false claim, mobilise the Fars community to support them.

The Iranian regime has committed serious crimes against the Sunnis and other ethnic groups in Iran.  In the last few weeks, the bodies of five Baluch women were discovered in plastic bags in Balochistan.  Attack on women in Baluchistan is an act which has not precedent.  In Baluch tradition, women have always been safe and nobody has touched a woman for hundreds of years.  This is the first time that the Baluch women have been kidnapped, raped and killed and left in the streets or around the cities.  This act is clearly a provocative act to incite violence among the Baluch and Sunnis of Iran against Shia women.  Yet, so far the Baluch and Sunnis of Iran have exercised restraint and refused to get into traps that the Iranian regime has laid before them but this will not be tolerated for a long time.  If the organization that has claimed responsibility for the explosion in Shiraz, is a genuine Sunni organization, then we will witness a new political phenomena in the country.  This would be the first time that a Sunni organization has acquired the capability for designing and implementing a huge explosion in a city which is not predominantly inhabited by the Sunnis. It also proves that the regime has united the Sunnis all around Iran against itself.

Shiraz is the capital of Fars province.  It is an old city with a very positive reputation not only in Iran but in the whole world as it has produced two of the greatest poets of Iran and few top philosophers.  Fars is also the cradle of the Iranian civilisation before Islam.  So far it has been free from any violence.  A large number of Sunni people live in Shiraz and in Fars province.  There is no accurate information about their numbers but it is estimated that they may constitute 30 to 40 percent of the population of the province.  The Sunnis of Shiraz and Fars province have very close relationship with Arab countries.  A few of Arab tribes still live in Fars too.  A large number of Sunnis have migrated from Fars to Arab countries and have set up very successful businesses.

Whether this explosion was caused by a Sunni group or by the regime itself there are reasons for concern.  The Sunnis and Shias have experienced tensions in their relationships  after the Safavid dynasty introduced Shia as the official religion of Iran.  As the absolute majority of the people of Iran were Sunnis before, the Safavid dynasty had to threaten to kill a large number of Sunnis in Iran to force them to convert to Shiism.  Kasrawi, the prominent historian, wrote that 20, 000 Sunni Turks in Tabreez, Azarbayjan, Iran, who refused to convert to Shiism were killed in few days.  The breasts of their wives were cut off and their children were forced to convert.  This was the way of converting the Sunnis to Shia during the Safavid dynasty but after the end of their violent period, and specifically after the emergence of Nader Shah, the last great king of Iran who was a Sunni, the violence between Shias and Sunnis subsided.

With the emergence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, anti-Sunni propaganda began widely and effectively.  Few Sunnis were persuaded by money and position to convert to Shiism but the rest of the Sunnis began to reinforce their Sunni identity and refused confrontation with Shias.  At the same time, the Shia people of Iran have demonstrated considerable maturity in refusing to be incited against the Sunnis of Iran.  They are aware that the regime wants to use them against the Sunnis.  They are also aware that this regime has inflicted numerous blows to the reputation of Shiism and has turned it into a terrorist religion.  They are also aware that the Shia people are in a minority in the world.  They only constitute about 10 percent of Moslems and confrontation between Shia and Sunni Moslems will not be in their best interests.  At the same time the Shia people of Iran are aware that Sunnis in Iran are located along the borders of the country and have blood relationships in neighbouring countries.  All the Sunnis of Iran have their family and tribal extensions in Sunni Afghanistan, Sunni Pakistan, Sunni Turkmenistan, Sunni Kurdistan, Sunni Turkey and Sunni Arab countries of the Persian Gulf.  Any conflict between Shias and Sunnis in Iran would mobilise all the neighbouring countries against the Shias in Iran and endanger the lives of the Shias in the Islamic world gravely. If the Sunnis see the massacre of Sunnis in Iran, they will massacre the Shias in their own country.

 The Iranian government also must not underestimate the number of Sunnis inside Iran.  The Sunnis constitute between 15 to 20 million.  They are located in strategic areas.  They have access to the neighbouring countries.  The international community is watching the Iranian regime very carefully.  It has no friend in the region.  While the Sunni people of Iran have millions of blood-related relatives in the neighbouring countries.  The Iranian government and the Shia people of Iran also must remember that Iran is surrounded by the Sunni countries which have been the targets of terrorist organisations sponsored by Iran.  If the regime thinks that it can massacre the Sunnis of Iran and the neighbouring countries and the world will remain silent, it is absolutely wrong in its assessment of the situation.

If Sunni killing becomes widespread, Iran will be disintegrated.  Pressure on the Sunnis to convert to Shiism was the cause of disintegration of Iran in 17, 18 and 19 centuries.  Three million square metres of Iranian territory seceded from Iran because of Shia pressure.  The rest of it will be disintegrated if the Shia regime and the Shia people of Iran do the same gross mistake of committing genocide or a major ethnic cleansing of the Sunni people happens.

Reza Hossein Borr is a leadership consultant and the creator of 150 CDs and 14 Change management models. He is also the author of Manual Success, Manual of Coaching and Mentoring, Motivational Stories that Can Change Your Life, and a New Vision for the Islamic World. He can be contacted by email: balochfront@aol.