Escalating Land Seizures and Employment Discrimination Fuel Crisis in Baluchistan

In a shocking revelation, former Chabahar MP Moein-od-Din Saeedi has brought to light the extensive land confiscations occurring in southern Sistan and Baluchistan. This troubling situation highlights Iran’s regime’s systematic dispossession of the Baluch people, with nearly 95% of ancestral lands being declared “national property” and seized without proper documentation.

Saeedi’s statement, made on November 14, 2025, emphasizes the grave implications of these actions for the cultural identity and territorial rights of the Baluch community. The regime’s bureaucratic mechanisms have targeted the very foundations of Baloch ownership, effectively erasing historical claims to land.

Here are some key points from Saeedi’s revelations:

• Mass Land Seizures: The Iranian regime has confiscated nearly all ancestral lands in the region, leaving families dispossessed.
• Article 56 Commission: More than 4,000 land cases were referred to this commission, which operates as a tool for mass expropriation.
• Unchallengeable Decisions: The commission’s rulings override centuries-old legal claims, leaving the local population without recourse.
• Exempt Lands: Many confiscated lands fall under legal exemptions, which should enable their return to rightful owners.

Saeedi also pointed out that the regime has intensified its policies by closing every administrative channel that could restore property to its legitimate owners. This systematic dispossession is compounded by the introduction of the “Youthful Population Law,” which ostensibly promotes childbearing but has been weaponized against the residents of Sistan and Baluchistan.

Despite the province’s high birth rate, local applicants are systematically denied the hiring benefits associated with this law. As a result:

• Non-Local Preference: Non-local applicants receive preferential hiring based on their child count, filling government jobs.
• Community Impact: Local administrative roles are left vacant, depriving communities of essential services.
• Public Services Erosion: Schools and health centers suffer from a lack of teachers and medical professionals, further marginalizing the native youth.

Critics argue that these measures are part of a deliberate strategy by Iran’s regime to eradicate Baluch communities from their lands while simultaneously diminishing their economic and cultural presence. The long-standing practice of designating Baluch lands as “national” has allowed the government to allocate these territories to military-economic conglomerates.

Large-scale projects, such as ports, petrochemical plants, and mining operations, are often established on these confiscated lands, all without the consent of the local population. This is not merely a consequence of administrative mismanagement; it is an organized campaign of demographic and economic engineering overseen by the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and his power structures.

The impact of these policies is profound. Every Baluch born in their ancestral homeland is rendered a temporary guest in their own land. Consequently, the people of Baluchistan assert their right to defend their soil, history, and identity. They view self-defense and the fight for their national rights as legitimate responses to decades of organized dispossession.

In conclusion, as long as these oppressive policies persist, the struggle of the Baluch people will continue. They maintain that the path to prosperity and dignity has been deliberately obstructed by the regime, and they believe in their right to resist these injustices to reclaim what has been taken from them. The situation in Sistan and Baluchistan calls for urgent attention and action from both local and international communities to address these violations of rights and restore dignity to the Baluch people.