Ganging up

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

States with resisting minorities have found it convenient to label them as sectarian, criminal and terrorist to discredit their struggle and to justify the atrocities and crimes committed against them. The Iranian state has long denied the Baloch their rights and suppressed them but the resistance has continued.

The hanging of 11 jailed (allegedly) Jundullah members in Iran after the Chabahar bombings is reminiscent of the brutal 1988 hangings of Mujahideen-e-Khalq and other imprisoned dissidents in revenge for the Mujahideen-e-Khalq attacks; the estimated number varies from 5,000 to 30,000 killed. Amnesty International puts the recorded figure at around 4,500. Many women dissidents too were executed then. The enormity of the crime of retaliation killing is unparalleled even if a single detained person is executed in reprisal for acts he/she is not responsible for.