A Baluch fuel trader who was caught at the zero point of the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan and Pakistan died of hunger and thirst yesterday.
The man identified as Fazl Sabzel, was among hundreds of fuel carriers who are currently caught in the Zero Point of the border, without proper access to food and water, as part of the IRGC implemented Razzagh Plan.
According to reports, hundreds of fuel traders are being held in the buffer zone by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Pakistani army.
There have been other reports indicating that four other fuel traders held in the Zero Point by the IRGC and the Pakistani army have passed away from heat and lack of access to food or water.
A video has been published on social media in recent days, showing the fuel traders digging a well for water.
The area has been the scene of unrest recently, and the IRGC has sought to crack down on Baluch fuel traders who carry fuel over the border to earn a living.
A fuel traders in the video says: “We have no water, we can not go back. We are in this desert without food and water. There is not even a tree to sit in its shade. We have been here for more than a week… »
Razzagh Plan
The Razzagh Plan proposed to allocate fuel quotas to border residents in an attempt to quell protests. According to state run media, the IRGC closed the southeastern border area on February 22 to “organize” fuel carriers according to the Razzagh Plan.
In the plan, locals living in a 20-kilometer radius of the border are allowed to buy fuel and transport it across the border to sell. This is while many fuel carriers are impoverished people living on the outskirts of small towns more than 20 kilometers from the border. Only those with an IRGC-approved ID card can transport fuel across the border and those who are not registered become easy targets for the regime.
Many believe that the IRGC sees fuel carriers as a rival and that the new Razzagh Plan is a way for the IRGC to monopolize the selling of fuel to score a profit.
Earlier in February 2021, the IRGC attempted to stop cross-border fuel trading by digging holes along the border crossing, but encountered protests by Baluch fuel traders.
The IRGC then opened fire on the protesters, killing and injuring dozens of them.
