Bombings in Iran

[FarCenter]

<snip>

In the murky world of militancy in the Baloch-dominated areas along the Pak-Afghan-Iran border very little is known for certain. Jundullah argues that it is fighting for the rights of the Baloch people; however, in Shia-dominated Iran, an armed Sunni group automatically raises suspicions of sectarian motivations. Jundullah has been linked to, variously, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, South Waziristan and even Al Qaeda — claims which have been buttressed since the introduction of suicide bombings in Iran by Jundullah last December. Add to this the decades-old animosity between the US and Iran and the American presence in Afghanistan, and an even murkier picture emerges in which Jundullah may be using a series of shifting, tactical alliances with regional players to further its own agenda.

On the Pakistani side, the government is keen to reduce the strains on Pak-Iran relations caused by Jundullah violence and it is not very difficult to understand why. A local, low-level insurgency is still continuing in Balochistan here, Pakistan is keen to get the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline started and Afghanistan remains volatile — meaning that major security and economic interests of Pakistan may be at risk if the concerns of the Iranian establishment are not addressed. Eager to placate the Iranians, the Pakistani government even handed over a brother of the Jundullah leader Abdulmalek Rigi and denies any support for the group. But perhaps the most combustible element in this shadowy war of sorts is the US connection.

Earlier this month, the first high-level meeting in three decades took place between Iranian and American officials to discuss US concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme. Meanwhile, the US is aware that Iran is influential in the non-Pashtun camp in Afghanistan and that Iran could even ramp up tactical support for the anti-American militants there to keep the US off balance. The bottom line: supporting Jundullah in any way is to play with fire, and all the players in the region must understand that such support can have dangerous, unpredictable consequences for regional stability.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/14-bombings-in-iran-zj-03#

[ConsAreLiars]

1. "a series of shifting, tactical alliances with regional players to further its own agenda."

That is a very accurate short summation of how things work in that region. In Western politics as well. But the US hegemonist warmongers promote the view that "we" (read they) are siding with the good guys against the evil ones, and their parrots and ditto-heads and the honestly duped echo that garbage. All of history documents that such nonsense "reasoning" is utterly stupid as well as ignorant.