The outstanding Islamic scholar, Shaikh Abdol-Hameed Isma’eelzahi, alluded to some whispers of dividing “Sistan-Baluchistan Province” and warned the authorities over removal of the word ‘Baluchistan’ on Friday, 01-March-2013 in Zahedan.
Khateeb of Ahl-us-Sunnah in the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan added more, “It has been heard some elements want division of the province; the thing that has worried all classes of the society is over deletion of the word ‘Baluchistan’ from the map of Iran. They suggest names for new provinces like ‘Sistan’, ‘Makoran’, ‘Velayat’ and etc. Baluchistan is an inseparable part of the history and identity of Iran. Some elements want to uproot people’s national and cultural identity.”
‘Baluchistan’ as a fact can be seen in historical documents; ‘Sistan’ was added to our province afterward. Everyone is worried over such sort of division; if it is necessary so the word of ‘Baluchistan’ must not be removed. It happened with Khorasan province as it was divided into three parts of Northern, Southern and Razavi (central) Khorasan. It was a logic partition of a big province, he underlined.
Addressing authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Governor of Sistan-Baluchistan, he made it clear that all parts of Baluchistan society including scholars, professors of universities, students, tribal elders, men and women are anxious over the murmurs of removing Baluchistan. Remove of the word ‘Baluchistan’ is for pleasing a particular group in the province to marginalize people’s national and religious identity. If someone wants to delete the name of Baluchistan, people would consider him enemy of their national identity.
The member of International Union for Muslim Scholars urged if the MPs of the province keep silent or show negligence about the issue, people would never forgive them. The elected MPs of Baluchistan must follow up the case. We do not insist on division of the province; if there is no any other option, the views of people and their representatives must be taken seriously. We hope the Ministry of Internal Affairs would not try to make people dissatisfied.
In another part of his sermon, Shaikh Abdol-Hameed Isma’eelzahi indicated to the ongoing sectarian unrest in Pakistan and stated recently some members of the Shia community in Quetta and some Islamic scholars and Muftis in other regions were assassinated in Pakistan. It is very painful. Such incidents target the respect of Pakistan and her people and rulers. The Pakistani nation and ruling class must take the matter seriously; they should handle the crisis soon.
Source: abdolhamid.net