Iran Pulling Out Militia in Pre-Vote Concession to Kurds

          
          Iran Pulling Out Militia in Pre-Vote Concession to Kurds
          By Michael Weisskopf Washington Post Staff Writer
          ..he Washington ..Post (i974 Currentfifr); Jan 22, 1 980;
          ProQuest H istorical Newspapers: The ••W ashington Post (18774994)
          pg .Ai4 _________ ________
          Iran Pulling Ou C Militia in P e- Vote concession to Ku rdw
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          Associated Pres8
          Radio reporter Alex Paeu leaves embassy in Iran after delivering mail and tapes
          By Michael Veisskopf
          Wa hln ton Po,t 8l efi Wr t r
          Iranian authorities made a signifi
          cant concession to the country's re-
          beillous Kurdish minority last night
          in an evident effort to increase voting
          in Friday's presidential election and
          to present a unified image against a
          perceived Soviet threat
          At its nig?itly meeting, the ruling
          Revolutionary Council agreed to with-
          draw government militiamen from the
          Kurdish cities of Sanandaj and Maha-
          bad, bowing to longstanding, Kurdish
          deth nds for local confrol of law en-
          forcement in their province in west-
          ern Iran,
          As the American hostages endured
          their 79th day in captivity, the Iranian
          government continued to shift its at-
          tention to the problems of provincial
          unrest and the Soviet presence in
          neighboring Afghanistan
          Iranian officials are believed to fear
          that antigovernment violence in the
          provinces and minority-group threats
          to boycott the nation's first presiden-
          tial election give the appearance of
          national weakness and increase the
          potential for Soviet military interven-
          tion
          In recent days, top Iranian leaders
          have warned that the Soviets may
          move troops across the Afghan bor-
          der, and the Revolutionary Council
          was reported last night to have con-
          sidered official support for Afghan
          rebels who are fighting the Soviet
          oCcupation forces.
          Afghanistan continUe to dominate
          ,tbe presidential campaign yesterday
          with th front-runner, Finance Minis-
          ter Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr, declaring
          that Iran was likely to pull out of this
          year's Olympics in Moscow If he is
          elected
          “How can we go to Moscow when
          we know Soviet troops are killing our
          Moslem brothers in Afghanistan?” he
          asked before setting off for a cam-
          paign, tour o central Iran,
          Another presidential contender,
          Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh,
          who first denounced the Soviet occu-
          pation Saturday, continued his attacks
          yesterday, saying fran's “own borders
          are in danger,” according to the offi-
          cial Pars news agen
          As Iran readies fOr Friday's Impor-
          tant presidential contest, officials
          have moved to quiet provincial dis- -
          sent and attract large numbers of vot-
          ers for the first real referendum on
          the nation's leadership dnce last Feb-
          ru ry's revolution,
          The Revolutionary Council's deci-
          sion to pull back the central govern-
          ment's paramilitary guards from the
          two Kurdish cltie marked the first
          concession to local authorities who
          have sought . to use thew own police
          forces to handle law enfOrcement
          duties
          The paramilitary troops, known as
          Revolutionary Guards, were organized
          after the revolution by Iran's religious
          and political leader, Ayatollah Ruhol-
          lab Khomeini, who sent them to each
          province to help augment local law
          enforcers.
          Soon after their a±rlval, the young,
          heavily armed guards irritated provin-
          cial reridents by fl unting their mod-
          ern automatic weapons and paying lit-
          tle attention to local cUstoms, Several
          regional uprisings in recent Weeks
          have centered On demands for the
          guards' removal,
          In the provinces of Kurdistan in the
          west and Baiuehistan Sistan in the
          southeast, the guards, nho are follow-
          ers of Khomeini's Shlae wing of Is-
          lam, .were accused of trampling ‘on re
          ligious rights of residents who belong
          to the Sunni branch of the religion.
          The two Islamic seats. have been di-
          vided sinae the new constitution en-
          acted in a referendum last month
          made Shilsm the official religion .of
          fran,
          Inan earlier gesture appar ntIy de-
          signed to stop Sunnis from boycotting
          Friday's election Khomeini, said' he
          was prepared to have the constitution
          amended to pernilt th Sunnis to set
          u their- own courts in areas where
          they predominate over Shiltes,
          Although some Sunni leaders ap-
          plauded Khomeini's announcement,
          Kurdish leaders continued to threaten
          an election boycott because their fa-
          vorite candidate, Massoud Rajavi, had
          been disqualified from the race on
          grounds that he failed to vote for the
          con titutiOn .
          it was too early yesterday to deter-
          mine, whether the council's decision to
          withdra* Revolutionary Guards frain
          Kurdistan would appease the nomadic
          tribesmen who have fought govern-
          ment forces and staged sit-ins in gov-
          ernment offices for weeks to back
          their demand. -
          Moreover, no one could estimate
          what impact the council's decision
          would have on other autonomy move-
          ments in ‘provinces like East and West
          Azerbaijan, whose Turkish-speaking
          miüorlty makes up the largest na-
          tIonal ethnic group in Iran.
          The region's religious leader, Aya-
          tollah Kazem Shariatmadari, was re-
          ported over state radio to have en-
          couraged his followers to vot in Fri-
          day's election, Nevertheless the Turk-
          ish-speakers have grown increasingly
          dissident after weeks of clashes witl
          Khomeini's backe ,
          As election day nears and Iranian
          officials turn their attention to domes-
          tic unrest and foreign threats, the
          hostage issue seems to attract less
          and less interest in government circles
          and the streets of Tehran around the
          U. S Embassy.
          According to news reports from
          Tebran, the normally large and noisy
          crowds that gathered in front of the
          embassy to shout support for the .Is-
          lannic militant occupiers holdi'ng the
          hostages have dramatically dwindled
          In recent days.
          The normal embassy routine was in-
          terrupted briefly yesterday when
          American radio reporter Alex Paen,
          of KMPC radio of Los Angeles, deliv-
          ered a broadcast tape of the Super
          Bowl football game for listening by
          the American Captives. Paen said he
          received assurances that the cassettes
          would be given to the hostages.
          Paen was allowed to remain in Teh-
          ran three days after other American
          reporters were ordered to leave the
          country so he could .deiiver the tapes,
          In a effart to limit reporting
          on the Americans being held
          prisoner inside the U.S. Embas-
          sy in Tehran, the Iranian gov-
          ernment has expelled American
          reporters, including those of The
          Washington Past, The Past will
          continue to report the siege of
          the embassy, which today' enter-
          ed its 80th. day, by usi?lg reports
          of news organizations still func-
          tioning in Iran.