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Iran
Baluchis
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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