Sistan-Baluchestan scholars appreciate government for trusting Sunni elites

Pars Today- Friday prayer leader of Sunni Muslims of Zahedan said, "Appointment of Kordestan governor general indicates the system's trust in Sunni elites."

Fatemeh Mohajerani, Iranian government spokeswoman, on Wednesday (October 30), informed of the appointment of Mansour Bijar, a Sunni Baluch, as the new governor general of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.

According to Pars Today, Mowlavi Abdul Hamid Esmail Zehi, Friday prayer leader of Sunni Muslims of Zahedan, during the ceremony to introduce the new governor general of Sistan-Baluchestan province, welcomed the move and said, "Choosing [persons] from different ethnicities and sects for [governmental] posts was one of the promises of the government of national consensus which has been fulfilled and some steps have been taken in this direction; and an example is the choosing of Sunni governor generals in Kordestan and Sistan-Baluchestan which should be appreciated."

Mowlavi Abdul Sattar Hossein Zehi, Friday prayer leader of Sunni Muslims of Khash, Sistan-Baluchestan province, also, said, "Choosing Sunni governor generals in Kordestan and Sistan-Baluchestan [provinces] and Presidential Deputy for Deprived Regions indicates the trust of the government and the Islamic Republic system in the Sunni elites."

Mowlavi Yusef Gorgich, another Sunni scholar from Zahedan, said, "Paying attention to ethnicities in choosing Sistan-Baluchestan governor general, in addition to guaranteeing national unity, will promote social assets of the government and the Islamic Republic of Iran system."

Mowalvi Abdul Rahim Rigianpour, Friday prayer leader of Sunni Muslims in Mirjaveh, Sistan-Baluchestan province, also, stated, "Frustrating the goals of the enemy to sow discord and preservation of unity will be feasible with taking all ethnic and cultural capacities into consideration. Today, the enemy has been scandalously defeated, in the project of sowing discord through ethnicities and sects, with choosing a Baluch and Sunni governor general."

In continuation of appointing persons from various sects and ethnicities for various posts, Iran's President, Masoud Pezeshkian, had also appointed Sunni Muslim, Abdul Karim Hosseinzadeh, as Presidential Deputy for Rural Development.

Moreover, Arash Zerehtan Lahooni, Sunni youth, was appointed as the governor general of Kordestan province in western Iran.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting a while ago with a number of Friday prayer leaders and headmasters of Sunni seminaries of the country, deemed it as essential to preserve the precious identity of the Islamic Ummah and, underlining the importance of Islamic unity and the efforts of ill-wishers to tarnish it, stated, "The issue of Islamic unity should never be forgotten."

Ayatollah Khamenei added, "Considering the multitude of conspiracies, the Sunni community of Iran has diligently confronted the hostile motives of the enemies the testimony of which are the 15,000 Sunni martyrs during the Sacred Defense and other junctures and the martyrdom of Sunni scholars in the way of truth and revolution."

Key phrases: Sunni Muslims in Iran, unity of Shias and Sunnis in Iran, Iranian ethnicities, Sunni officials in Iran

RM/ME