My request to Iranian members, please can you post more pics from Sistan-Balochistan, those who have been there say , its pretty simmilar to Pakistan's Balochistan , please do post some pics, Thanks
Sistan is better developed but Balouchistan part is the least developed part of Iran due to many known reasons... Balouchistan people have the lowest of everything that has to do with development. Some of the known reasons are:
- Sistan and Balouchistan province has the lowest literacy rate of all Iranian provinces... Latest estimates shows a literacy rate of only %81.5 for Sistan and Balouchistan while the national literary rate is %92.5 in 2013-14 and it is close to %100 in some provinces like Mazandaran and Tehran) There are also new percents like %87 which is a good news. This itself has reasons. The province has very disperse population. The balouchi culture still lacks in terms of knowledge and education. Girls are still treated indiscriminately by local people when it comes to education.The average number of children each family has in the province is folds higher than the national average. This makes poorer families unable to afford education for their children. The hard job to convince teachers to live in remote areas and run classes is still a problem for the province. Despite all these news, the progress is better than expected in the province and the numbers are growing fast.
- The province in majority has very bad climate, hosting to regular sand storms. A big part of the province are Sunni Muslims and are strict with their culture and traditions, therefore, not that supporting non-local private investors.
- The old story of terrorist actions by groups supported by CIA and Saudis. These alleged (ex-groups as they almost seized to exist and operate today) terrorist groups have committed a series of criminal acts with local and non-local residents/tourists and investors. They used to stop roads opening fire at innocent people, assassination attempts of active government, military, industrial and financial figures.
From my experience in two times that I have been there. Once around 2000 and once couple of months back, I can say confidently that their overall developmental picture is enhancing very rapidly, very much behind other parts of Iran yet though...
The good thing that is happening today and has started just 3 to 4 years ago was to eliminate terrorist groups strongly, opening the road for compensationial new investments in all areas of development. The leader himself is after assuring huge multi-billion dollar projects all over the province. He and the president in addition to the IRGC and Iranian Navy signed a long term cooperation deal to focus on Baluchistan as the new hub of industrial, financial and militarily development. In 10 years from now, GDP of the province will succeed of those of Northern provinces and in 20 years, Sistan and Baluchistan province will be another heart of Iranian development with God's help/
I remember my first time to the province back 15 years ago. It was horrible. I actually got scared to death to stay there for one more hour. That province in no way looked Iranian at all...
Today, the province is much better but the huge change is just underway... We have to wait another 10 to 20 years to see a very developed province with very developed people in it...
Here are some photos of Sistan and Balouschistan: