The doctrine of self-determination justifies the breakup of Iran into more homogenous states.
The Baluch sad story began in the 1839. The Capital of Baluchistan (Kalat) was attacked by British forces The Khan of Baluch was killed and his state divided and annexed into neighbouring kingdoms. The second disturbance into Baluchistan occurred in the 1872 when the British imposed Goldsmid line, the western part of Baluchistan was gifted to the Persian king; the third intrusion was Seistan Boundary commission 1904 when British gifted the northern part of Baluchistan again this time to Afghan king.
The Baluch has never recognised the Persian rules and the Baluch in the western Baluchistan had a military power to resist the Persian continuous attacks for more than half century (1872-1928). The Persian never administrated the western Baluchistan before 1928 invasion and forceful annexation.
Three factors have turned the Baluch into minorities in three states. The first is conquest and division between three states and again division of the Baluch within a state between different administrations unite.
The second is colonisation of Baluchistan, the Persian coloniser assembled within Baluchistan and established for the convenience of Shiite Persian people who has traditional hostility with the Baluch. In this process the Baluch have been split among four political unites. The division of the Baluch population and settlement patterns are intermixed in that the Baluch cannot conceivably produce maps that will leave the Baluch in majority.
The third is immigration; people from all over Iran have been transported into Baluchistan and settled in the areas already inhabited by the Baluch people and the Baluch people were expelled from their ancestral homeland. Some are moving into Baluchistan in search of economic opportunity.
For the millennia the Baluch distinctive culture social organisation and collective identities ruled by local dynasties may or may not extracted revenues but in the most respects let their subjects alone as long as the Baluch caused no problem for their dynastic rules. People generally agreed to their authorities unless they became oppressive or immoral.
The era of democracy and challenges to Persian elites,
The foreign rules is unjust therefore illegitimate. All nations have right to self-determination. Baluchistan should be expression and embodiment of the Baluch nation.
It has been the Persian elite duty to build a united inseparable Iranian nation from different linguistic and cultural homogenous nationality residing in their own ancestral homelands inside Iran political boundaries by assimilation or elimination. As the duty of Persian elite still is to assimilate the Baluch and they believe it is the Baluch duty to assimilate.
The Baluch are discouraged and intimidated from political and cultural self preservation. According to Persian unassimilated Baluch is a challenge to security of Iran therefore the Baluch must assimilate to the Persian sponsored Iranian Nationalism the only acceptable alternative to assimilation is passivity. The Baluch inside Iran were expected to assimilate as individuals into Persian.
After the Second World War many states have given up the idea of homogenous nation and opened political space for their minority. At the same time every aspiring nation enjoys the national right to self determination to political mobilisation and struggle for the national liberation. The doctrine of national self-determination has legitimised claim to statehood of perilously subordinated people in Europe. The doctrine of self-determination justifies the breakup of Iran into more homogenous states.
The idea of one state with state sponsored language, culture and state sponsored Nationalism experiencing a decline. Subordinated Nations elite (Baluch, Arab, Kurd and Turk) are mobilising their masses for political action to claims states for themselves.
In the past with some success the Persian had delegitimized and suppressed the Baluch claim, but their attempt to suppress and delegitimize the Baluch claim is collapsing. The Baluch claim to self-determination has attracted wider interest, public support and the world concern for the south Asia security.
The erosion of the old empire style state (Iran) has stimulated Baluch demand for separate state. Nothing is on the horizon of the world affairs to diminish the intensity of the Baluch demand for independent Baluchistan.
Mehrab Sarjov is a political activist based in London,