Cease-fire likely in Iran today

Press, 29 August 1979, Page 8

Cease-fire likely in Iran today

NZPA-Reuter Teheran A cease-fire to end almost two weeks of fighting between Kurdish insurgents and Government forces is expected to be announced today.

A spokesman for a fiveman Kurdish peace delegation which held talks with the Government on Monday said yesterday that it had obtained an assurance from the Teheran spiritual leader, Ayatollah Mahmoud Talegahni, that the cease-fire order would be broadcast today. The spokesman, Dr Rahmis Seif Ghazi, said the unofficial Head of State, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, was also expected to give his verdict on a framework for formal peace negotiations.

A spokesman for the banned Kurdish Democratic Party said in a telephone call from the rebel capital of Mahabad that the party had so far received no news of the cease-fire plans. He said a cease-fire would be acceptable to the K.D.P., which is leading the Kurdish resistance, if it contributed to the peace and security of the area and was in the interest of the Kurdish people. The central • authorities have made no comment on the talks. The K.D.P. said no new fighting had been reported in the Mahabad area. A Government armoured column is halted 35km north of Mahabad, apparently awaiting the outcome of peace moves.

Since Ayatollah Khomeiny ordered a general military mobilisation 10 days ago, the Government has reasserted its control over the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, and captured the stronghold of Saqqez. A large triangle of territory stretching north from there to Mahabad is still in guerrilla hands. Kurdish sources said last week they were confident of resisting a ground attack on Mahabad, but feared air attacks.

Dr Ghazi said the peace delegation had been invited to attend Iran’s Council of Constitutional Experts, from which the K.D.P. leader, Mr Abdulraham Qassemlou, was expelled earlier this month. He said part of the peace plan was for the Kurds to allow the army to set up a new garrison outside Mahabad and to camp there while it was being constructed.

The Mahabad barracks was taken over by Kurds in the February revolution, and the guerrillas have brought out its heavy weaponry to hold off Government forces in the rebellion.

Dr Ghazi, for 33 years an exile in the Soviet Union, said the Kurds proposed that the city garrison should be converted in to a university and named after Ayatollah Khomeiny.

Dr Ghazi declined to reveal details of what conditions the Kurds were setting in the peace settlement. The autonomy-seeking Kurds say their present revolt, which began over Kurdish complaints about non-Kurdish Revolutionary Guards being sent to the area, is in response to the attack on their towns by Government forces following the orders of Ayatollah Khomeiny. The special religious judge sent to deal with Kurdish insurgents has sentenced 11 more people to death, according to the State radio. Nine of them were found guilty by Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali of armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic and of taking part in the recent fighting against Government forces. The other two were former officials of the Shah’s regime,' one of them a general. All were executed by firing squad in the Kurdistan provincial capital of Sanandaj, the radio reported. The official P.A.R.S. news agency said the K.D.P. had executed four hostages. The K.D.P. last week threatened to execute one Revolutionary Guard for every Kurd sent to the firing squad by the Government.

P.A.R.S. also reported that two Iraqi officers had been captured in the recent fighting against the Kurds in Paveh, and sent to Teheran for questioning. Iranian officials claimed during the Paveh fighting that the guerrillas were being helped by fellow Kurds from across the Iraqi border, but this was the first suggestion that the Iraqi military may have been involved.

The pro-Soviet Tudeh (Communist) Party said yesterday that two of its members had been executed in the western border city of Kermanshah as part of the crackdown on the Kurdish rebels. It did not identify the men, nor did it say when they were executed. Protesting against what are the first executions of Tudeh members since the overthrow of the Shah, the party’s central committee said the two had not been connected in any way with the Kurdish incidents. In a letter to the Government and the Council of the Revolution, the Tudeh said the two had been shot by a firing squad one hour after being arrested in their homes. The Tudeh called on the authorities to stop limiting the activities of the party, whose Teheran headquarters were closed down earlier this month and many of whose offices have been destroyed in other parts of the country.