The Lurs seemed reconciled to the new situation; the men had begun to surrender their arms and the more important chiefs had come in to military headquarters on safeconduct to discuss the future. But then, in October, the military commander was guilty of a repetition of Amirahmadi's treachery and no fewer than 20 of the Lur chiefs, including nearly all the important tribal leaders, in Khurramabad on safeconduct were seized and hanged. The officer responsible for this step justified it by the argument that without leaders the tribes would be incapable of combination or of organising a movement of any scrious proportions in opposition to the government. This justification demonstrates clearly that such methods were not attributable simply to the brutality of individual commanders, acting on their own initiative, but were the product of attitudes widely held amongst the military and apparently had official sanction from the highest levels of army and government.
Stephanie Cronin
1403/05/19 08:30