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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
The Baluchis--who constitute the majority of the population in
Baluchestan va Sistan--numbered approximately 600,000 in Iran in
the mid-1980s. They are part of a larger group that forms the
majority of the population of Baluchistan Province in Pakistan and
of some areas in southern Afghanistan. In Iran the Baluchis are
concentrated in the Makran highlands, an area that stretches
eastward along the Gulf of Oman coast to the Pakistan border and
includes some of the most desolate country in the world. The
Baluchis speak an Indo-Iranian language that is distantly related
to Persian and more closely related to Pashtu, one of the major
languages of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Historically, Baluchi has
been only an oral language, although educated Baluchis in Pakistan
have developed a written script that employs the Arabic alphabet.
Unlike the majority of Persians, the majority of Baluchis are
Sunni (see Glossary)
rather than Shia Muslims. This religious difference
has been a source of tension in the past, especially in the
ethnically mixed provincial capital of Zahedan. Religious tensions
have been exacerbated since the establishment of the Republic.
About half of the Baluchis are seminomadic or nomadic; the
remainder are settled farmers or townsmen. Tribal organization
remains intact among nomadic and seminomadic Baluchis; tribal
patterns of authority and obligation have also been retained by the
majority of settled Baluchis. The Baluchis have been one of the
most difficult tribal groups for the central government to control,
in large part because of poor communications between Tehran and
Baluchestan va Sistan. With the exception of the city of Zahedan,
neither the monarchy nor the Republic invested any significant
funds in local development projects. As a result, the Baluchis are
one of the poorest and least educated peoples in Iran. Most of the
principal Baluchi tribes in Iran border Pakistan or Afghanistan.
They include the Yarahmadzai, the Nauri, the Gomshadzai, the
Saravan, the Lashari, and the Barazani. Along the coast of the Gulf
of Oman live the important tribes of Sadozai and Taherza.
Data as of December 1987
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