Iranian border forces have shot dead a kolbar and wounded another in separate incidents on the borders of Baneh in Kurdistan Province and Nowsud in Kermanshah Province, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has reported.
At dawn on 25 September, border forces opened fire at close range without warning on a group of kolbars in the Belasan border area of Baneh, killing 47-year-old kolbar Ghassem Azizi, a father of two from the city.
On the evening of 23 September, two days earlier, border forces opened fire without warning on another group of kolbars in the Nowsud border area, wounding Karvan Almasi from Salas-e Babajani, Kermanshah Province.
Almasi sustained a broken arm after being struck by a Kalashnikov bullet and is reported to be in poor health.
Background
Eastern Kurdistan has descended deeper into poverty through the years due to deliberate policies by the Iranian regime and stands out as one of the poorest regions in Iran. Compared to other regions, the area has seen significantly less investment and development has been deliberately curbed. Agriculture and industry weren’t allowed to develop, and as a result, unemployment rose to the highest in Iran.
Faced with policies of discrimination, oppression and impoverishment, carrying smuggled goods is not a choice but a must for survival.
Kolbar comes from the Kurdish words, “kol” (back) and “bar” (load). Kolbars make their living carrying loads along the perilous borderline. Their loads include cigarettes, mobile phones, clothes, housewares, tea and seldomly alcohol. They walk through dangerous terrain to continue this trade between Southern and Eastern Kurdistan. The goods they bring are sold at high prices in Tehran, but the kolbars who risk their lives for them are paid very modestly.
The intermediaries who take the deliveries and find buyers in cities are called kasibkars. Kolbars and kasibkars range from 13 to 70 years old. Some only finished elementary school, while others are university graduates. They carry loads, because they can’t find any other employment.