Friday, August 16, 2013
Former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, an ethnic Arab who rose to the top of the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq War, this week made unprecedented criticism on the Iranian regime's treatment of Ahwazi Arabs while visiting a mosque in Ahwaz City during Eid celebrations.
Regarded as a regime loyalist and the only Arab to have held a cabinet position in the Islamic Republic, Shamkhani accused the regime of "sectarianism" for launching a new television channel, Ahwaz TV, which is intended to counter Ahwazi Arab opposition.
Often praised for his role in the fight against Iraqi forces, Shamkhani accused the government of failing to reconstruct and develop the Ahwazi Arab region for the benefit of the people following the end of the 1980-88 war, which saw many towns devastated and still has a legacy of one of the world's worst landmine problems. He highlighted various challenges facing the region in relation to good resource management and human development, but although government officials have often acknowledged the problems they have failed to act.
In a side-swipe at the ruling theocracy, Shamkhani claimed that native people had felt marginalized by the government's decision to import extreme Shia fundamentalists from Arab countries, such as Tunisian theologian Muhammad Al-Tijani, to confront Sunnis. He claimed these theologians had little understanding of local Arab society and had proven to be counter-productive, fueling conversion from Shi'ism to other faiths.
Instead of progandising with religion and television channels, Shamkhani called on the government to deal with discrimination and resolve problems of poverty, which motivate disloyalty among Ahwazi Arabs. He claimed that in spite of frequent changes of administration and 15 different provincial governors, the policies in the region have not changed.
Source: Ahwaz New Agency.
Link: http://www.ahwaziarabs.info/2013/08/iran-ex-defence-minister-attacks.html.
Former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, an ethnic Arab who rose to the top of the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq War, this week made unprecedented criticism on the Iranian regime's treatment of Ahwazi Arabs while visiting a mosque in Ahwaz City during Eid celebrations.
Regarded as a regime loyalist and the only Arab to have held a cabinet position in the Islamic Republic, Shamkhani accused the regime of "sectarianism" for launching a new television channel, Ahwaz TV, which is intended to counter Ahwazi Arab opposition.
Often praised for his role in the fight against Iraqi forces, Shamkhani accused the government of failing to reconstruct and develop the Ahwazi Arab region for the benefit of the people following the end of the 1980-88 war, which saw many towns devastated and still has a legacy of one of the world's worst landmine problems. He highlighted various challenges facing the region in relation to good resource management and human development, but although government officials have often acknowledged the problems they have failed to act.
In a side-swipe at the ruling theocracy, Shamkhani claimed that native people had felt marginalized by the government's decision to import extreme Shia fundamentalists from Arab countries, such as Tunisian theologian Muhammad Al-Tijani, to confront Sunnis. He claimed these theologians had little understanding of local Arab society and had proven to be counter-productive, fueling conversion from Shi'ism to other faiths.
Instead of progandising with religion and television channels, Shamkhani called on the government to deal with discrimination and resolve problems of poverty, which motivate disloyalty among Ahwazi Arabs. He claimed that in spite of frequent changes of administration and 15 different provincial governors, the policies in the region have not changed.
Source: Ahwaz New Agency.
Link: http://www.ahwaziarabs.info/2013/08/iran-ex-defence-minister-attacks.html.
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