On the eighth of May Iran warned that it will strike the bases of what it called terrorists if Pakistan does not address them, while Islamabad demanded Tehran to inform it about their presence in order to take appropriate action against them.
This came days after an attack by a group calling itself the “Jaish al-Adl” resulted in the killing of a number of elements of the Iranian border guards.
The head of the Iranian Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri said the border areas of Pakistan with Iran became a haven and a stronghold for the training and equipping of what he called the terrorists.
He added if this armed groups continued their operations against Iran, the armed forces would target the strongholds of terrorists anywhere, as he put it.
For its part, Pakistan has consistently denied the existence of the so – called Justice Army (Jaish al-Adl) on its territory or to take its territory a base for terrorist elements, and demanding in return Tehran to provide them with any information about the group in Pakistan to take the appropriate action. What is the”Jaish al-Adl” Army of Justice?
First: The origin
Iranian armed opposition group operating in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan, says it is fighting the Iranian forces to restore the rights of the Baloch and Sunnis, and Tehran considers it a terrorist group.
“Army of Justice” group was founded in 2012 in Sistan and Baluchistan province , and two years after the execution of the Iranian authorities , the leader of the Baloch “Soldiers of God ” Jundallah , Abdul Malik Rigi , in June 2010.
Following the appointment of Abdul Rahim Malazada emir of the “Soldiers of God”, he and Abdul Rahim Rigi brother of Abdul Malik Rigi declared the establishment of “Jaish al-Adl” through the unification of the armed factions and movements fighting a war against the Iranian authorities.
And allegiance was made to Mullah Zadeh as an Emir of the Army of Justice in the end of 2012, and he issued statements under the name of Salah al – Din Farooqi who is one of the most prominent leaders of the resistance in Balochistan, and was previously a leader of the”Jundallah” Soldiers of God” .
In contrast, observers believe that the Justice Army is a new name for the group of Jund allah, a Sunni Islamist opposing organization that was established in 2003, based in Baluchistan in southeast Iran, and he says that he is fighting for the rights of Sunni Muslims in the country.
It is noteworthy that the Sistan and Baluchistan region ruled by the successive dynasties of Mughal , leading to the invasion during the sixteenth century by the Safavid , and in the end by British colonialism, which split the region from Afghanistan and annexed it finally to Iranian land, which raised many of the political disputes of ethnic and sectarian background and due to its complex ethnic and sectarian composition and its geographical location, the region represents a special importance to the Iranian regime, especially the recent years have seen the growing claims of secession in the three parts of Balochistan (in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan) to establish a Albloushah state .
And Tehran annexed the region to its lands in 1928, and is considered one of the largest Iranian provinces, while part of the Territory joined to the Pakistan a year after its establishment in 1947 to become the fourth of its territories.
After the fall of the Shah ‘s regime in 1979 , the Baloch began immediate action to express their distinctive identity , but the Baloch found themselves once again in the face with the new political system in Iran, the Baloch political parties were banned , and the Baloch began in the face of discrimination and persecution of a new type based on a sectarian basis ( a Sunni and Shiites), and new elites began to rise and replace the traditional elites in Baloch society because of education , economic and social transformations that included Baluchistan , of course, and the presence of women in public life was increased , and the middle class has become more extensive and influential.
The middle class through its work in the Arab Gulf states participated in the establishment of a new movement for the circulation of money and investment , and Baloch began to own commercial and service sectors that were monopolized by other nationalities , it has contributed to the deepening of the national consciousness, but political leaders fell a prey to the conflict and fragmentation, and the sharpness of division between Baloch political parties has increased ; as clearly manifested in the general elections that took place in 1985 and then in the nineties, and the regional side of the issue of Baloch, as well as the increasing complexity of the Baloch society led to the complexity of the task of Baloch nationalist movement of achieving strategy of unity and cohesion to achieve its objectives.
Second, the intellectual foundations
“Army of Jaish al-Adl ( the Army of Justice ) identifies itself on his official site “Twitter” as a “jihadist movement in Persia seeking to overthrow the Iranian government and the arbitration of Islamic Sharia (Islamic law).
” Army commander is “Abdul Rahim Mollazadeh”, issued statements as “Salah al – Din Farooqi,” the Emir of Justice Army, born in 1979 in “Rasik” of the province of Baluchistan, and is considered one of the most prominent leaders of resistance in Balochistan, and was part of God’s Soldiers (Jundallah), (which was founded by Abdul Malik Rigi, now Haj Salah al – Din is leading the Baloch Army of Justice on the path and approach of Prince Rigi. .
And the Emir of Justice Army has close ties to the Baloch tribes in Pakistan’s Baluchistan region, where there are relatives and he lived many years among the people of this region; it gives him strong support from Baloch of Pakistan who are also suffering from persecution by the Pakistani government.
He is the leader and strategic planner for the operations of Justice Army in Balochistan, who has carried out, during nearly two years of the founding of the organization, dozens of armed operations against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian officials and interests in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan.
In an interview with the Saudi Arabia newspaper “Riyadh” published on August 15 / 2015, the commander of Army of Justice “Farooqui” describes his group as ” a defensive military organization established to safeguard national and religious rights of the Baloch people and the Sunnis in Iran.
” And the group of “Army of Justice” raises the principle of jihad for the restoration of rights , and accused ,in its statements , the Iranian authorities to exercise their sectarian schemes in Balochistan and in the rest of the areas inhabited by Sunnis in Iran.
The commander of the group says in the same dialogue that Tehran is deliberately ignored to engage the Baloch people in the governance system of the Iranian state, and it committed what he called the injustices and crimes that is to target their religion and their land and national identity.
Third: Objectives
Justice Army aims according to its data, to raise the banner of monotheism “There is no god but Allah,” and remove all aspects of the Atheism from all Baloch land in western Balochistan occupied by Iran, and hit and weaken Iran’s military mechanism in all parts of Balochistan, and confuse the system internally, in addition to its role in the defense of the Sunnis in various countries around the world; where the organization of the “Army of Justice” has carried out military operations; in response to Iranian support to the President of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad to confront the rebels of Syria, and its attempts to bring back the usurped rights of the Baloch from Tehran’s mullahs, including citizenship rights, land rights , dignity, human rights, the stolen fortune of the country and the hunger of people .
It is worth noting that more than five million Baloch within the geography so-called Iran have been exposed to the nationalist and sectarian systemized persecution by the Persian foreign occupation , while the Iranian state claims that its constitution is derived from Islamic sharia (law) and promoted as working on Muslim unity between Shiites and Sunnis, but they are fighting the building of mosques in the Sunni Balochistan , as it is fighting it in Ahwaz and Kurdistan, while it spreads its preachers in the occupied territories where they do not hesitate to provoke the feelings of peoples through the insult and abuse the first three caliphs and mother of believers and Ahuls Sunnah wal Jamaah and called them by the word “Alamrien” and at the same time cursing the Caliph al-Faruq and calling him by the ugliest qualities and titles.
Fourth: the Structure
Justice Army takes the border areas between Iran and Pakistan as an HQ for him , and the “Army of Justice” consists of the three battalions with the names of three of its elements who were killed in military clashes with Iranian forces , they are : Malik Mollazadeh, Nimat allah Tawhedi , and Sheikh Dhai, in addition to the security battalion with the tasks of monitoring and Reconnaissance .
The commander of the “Army of Justice” enjoy close ties with the Baloch tribes in Pakistan’s Baluchistan region and linked with them by relative ties and lived among them a few years. Farooqi is a leader and strategic mind of the group in Balochistan.
Fifth: Military operations
“Army of the group of Jaish al-Adl ( the Army of Justice” ) carried out – according to its site on Twitter – several attacks against Iranian security forces , for example , but not limited to : On 23 October 2013 killed 14 Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and in November 26 the group confirmed that it has dropped Helicopter.
On 23 March 2014 executed an element of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and in February 6, 2016 abducted five Iranians near the border with Pakistan, and were transferred – according the Iranian allegations – to Pakistan.
In January of this year, battalion of, “Abdul Malik Mulla Zadeh” of the Army of Justice, targeted patrols of the Iranian border guard in the “Jchegor” area in Zabul province, northeast of the province of Balochistan; resulted in the killing and wounding a large number of leaders and officers of the Revolutionary Guards.
However , the most prominent operations that provoked Iran was done on the current of April 26 in the Mir area of Java , killing ten members of the Revolutionary Guards , including three officers.
After this last operation, the Justice army confirmed that it will continue its battle against the Iranian regime as long as the Iranian regime does not stop its racist discriminatory policies against non-Persian peoples and Ahuls Sunnah wal Jamaah , adding that Tehran is pursuing the policy of destruction of human being and geography at the same time in non-Persian regions , and it has formed the courts for inspection of beliefs in the country, and they put tens of thousands in prisons, as well as the execution of thousands of others.
Iranian Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic studies