Troubled Times In Tehran
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Fire fury at opposition demonstration in Tehran on Dec 28
While the opposition to hard-line supreme leader. Ayatollah Ali Khameini and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad baked by him is growing, it is too early to say that Iran is in turmoil as some western commentators aver. The latest crack down on the opposition has the potential of turning the tide against the regime, though.
Reformists are in forefront of the Green Movement as they like to term their opposition. Students and academics form their main backbone as recent demonstrations in Tehran, Qom, Isfahan, Mashhad, and other cities show. The main source of what is happening on the opposition front is the Internet. The official media generally ignores the opposition and, when opposition is ‘noticed’, the report is very bland and doesn't go beyond the bare facts. Outside media has no access to what is happening inside Iran and this naturally puts a premium on the 'news'.
Nevertheless, from what one has read and seen the Net, it is safe to assume that the opposition is yet to chart out a clear course of action. It has not revisited its aims since July 12 when it dubbed the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President for his second term as a fraud.
Demonstrations and protest marches are no substitute to a clear mission statement and a clearly identifiable leadership.
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri could have provided the leadership but for his death a few days back. As a front ranking leader of the 1979 Revolution, he was highly respected and his voice carried weight with c1ergy as also the commoner.
The regime was conscious of Montazeri's stature. Though he had fallen out with him a while ago, Ayatollah Ali Khameini deemed it fair and proper to formally issue a statement mourning the death. The authorities, however, ensured that the mourning was confined to Qom, where the Grand Ayatollah lived and breathed his last. This decision in itself is a signal that Hossein Ali Montazeri is feared eyen in his death.
Who after Montazeri? Silence greets the question. The unwillingness of the opposition camp to respond is understandable. Already Revolutionary Guards have unleashed a crackdown, which, the opposition web sites say, is brutal.
On Monday, Dec 28, the security forces rounded up at least a dozen prominent dissidents. The arrests came a day after violent demonstrations against the regime in Tehran and other cities coinciding with Ashura -a day on which in Islamic tradition no blood is to be spilled. Even the discredited Shah regime was careful to respect religious sentiments, according to an opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, who was amongst the candidates in the Presidential election. He has denounced the 'perpetrators' of Monday violence as 'a group of savage individuals'. His statement on an opposition website, said ‘even the discredited Shah regime respected the holy day of Ashura’.
Ali Reza Beheshti, a top aide to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, Emadeddin Baghi, a human rights activist, and Ibrahim Yazdi (78) foreign minister in Iran's first post-Islamic Revolution government are among those arrested. A foundation run by reformist former president Mohammad Khatami was also raided and two persons were taken to detention centre.
The opposition claimed that 550 of their supporters were rounded, though the official figure is a modest 300. A day earlier, on Sunday, Dec 27, massive demonstrations were witnessed in Tehran, Qom and other cities. Eight persons were killed in police action. One of them, Seyed Ali Mousavi, nephew of the opposition leader was shot in the chest.
U.S and European Union have termed the police actions as 'unjust'. President Barack Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, has asked Tehran to 'abide by international obligations to respect the rights of its own people'. He is confident that 'history will be on the side of those who seek justice', and warned that 'the decision of Iran's leaders to govern through fear and tyranny will not succeed in making those aspirations go away’.
Expectedly, a top General with the Revolutionary Guard Corps has accused the United States and Britain of organizing the protests. He demanded a review of Iran's relations with European countries.
'We must counter some European countries, especially the government and rulers of England who stand beside America’, Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri said. The United States and Britain are the main supporters of such conspiracies and seditions and teach terrorism clearly in their media, the general who is also the cultural deputy of the combined chiefs of staff, remarked.
The air is thick with the talk of a coup by Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia, who are carrying out the crack down, ‘if the situation warrants’. Given the hold of Ayatollah Ali Khameini over the country, ‘coup’ talk may not be more than a conjecture but there is no gain saying that Iran has entered a period of political instability.
Khameini can still retrieve the situation b) opening a door to his erstwhile advisors, who have been sidelined in the recent past. Former presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami and former speaker, Mehdi Karoubi, may be more than willing to respond to any overture that is destined to make people happy as they get ready for celebrating the 31st anniversary of Islamic Iranian Republic in February.
Reformists are in forefront of the Green Movement as they like to term their opposition. Students and academics form their main backbone as recent demonstrations in Tehran, Qom, Isfahan, Mashhad, and other cities show. The main source of what is happening on the opposition front is the Internet. The official media generally ignores the opposition and, when opposition is ‘noticed’, the report is very bland and doesn't go beyond the bare facts. Outside media has no access to what is happening inside Iran and this naturally puts a premium on the 'news'.
Nevertheless, from what one has read and seen the Net, it is safe to assume that the opposition is yet to chart out a clear course of action. It has not revisited its aims since July 12 when it dubbed the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President for his second term as a fraud.
Demonstrations and protest marches are no substitute to a clear mission statement and a clearly identifiable leadership.
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri could have provided the leadership but for his death a few days back. As a front ranking leader of the 1979 Revolution, he was highly respected and his voice carried weight with c1ergy as also the commoner.
The regime was conscious of Montazeri's stature. Though he had fallen out with him a while ago, Ayatollah Ali Khameini deemed it fair and proper to formally issue a statement mourning the death. The authorities, however, ensured that the mourning was confined to Qom, where the Grand Ayatollah lived and breathed his last. This decision in itself is a signal that Hossein Ali Montazeri is feared eyen in his death.
Who after Montazeri? Silence greets the question. The unwillingness of the opposition camp to respond is understandable. Already Revolutionary Guards have unleashed a crackdown, which, the opposition web sites say, is brutal.
On Monday, Dec 28, the security forces rounded up at least a dozen prominent dissidents. The arrests came a day after violent demonstrations against the regime in Tehran and other cities coinciding with Ashura -a day on which in Islamic tradition no blood is to be spilled. Even the discredited Shah regime was careful to respect religious sentiments, according to an opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, who was amongst the candidates in the Presidential election. He has denounced the 'perpetrators' of Monday violence as 'a group of savage individuals'. His statement on an opposition website, said ‘even the discredited Shah regime respected the holy day of Ashura’.
Ali Reza Beheshti, a top aide to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, Emadeddin Baghi, a human rights activist, and Ibrahim Yazdi (78) foreign minister in Iran's first post-Islamic Revolution government are among those arrested. A foundation run by reformist former president Mohammad Khatami was also raided and two persons were taken to detention centre.
The opposition claimed that 550 of their supporters were rounded, though the official figure is a modest 300. A day earlier, on Sunday, Dec 27, massive demonstrations were witnessed in Tehran, Qom and other cities. Eight persons were killed in police action. One of them, Seyed Ali Mousavi, nephew of the opposition leader was shot in the chest.
U.S and European Union have termed the police actions as 'unjust'. President Barack Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, has asked Tehran to 'abide by international obligations to respect the rights of its own people'. He is confident that 'history will be on the side of those who seek justice', and warned that 'the decision of Iran's leaders to govern through fear and tyranny will not succeed in making those aspirations go away’.
Expectedly, a top General with the Revolutionary Guard Corps has accused the United States and Britain of organizing the protests. He demanded a review of Iran's relations with European countries.
'We must counter some European countries, especially the government and rulers of England who stand beside America’, Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri said. The United States and Britain are the main supporters of such conspiracies and seditions and teach terrorism clearly in their media, the general who is also the cultural deputy of the combined chiefs of staff, remarked.
The air is thick with the talk of a coup by Revolutionary Guards and Basij militia, who are carrying out the crack down, ‘if the situation warrants’. Given the hold of Ayatollah Ali Khameini over the country, ‘coup’ talk may not be more than a conjecture but there is no gain saying that Iran has entered a period of political instability.
Khameini can still retrieve the situation b) opening a door to his erstwhile advisors, who have been sidelined in the recent past. Former presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami and former speaker, Mehdi Karoubi, may be more than willing to respond to any overture that is destined to make people happy as they get ready for celebrating the 31st anniversary of Islamic Iranian Republic in February.
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