A kolbar, identified as 40-year-old Ebrahim Abdollahi from Javanrud, Kermanshah Province, has been critically injured after a landmine explosion in the border areas of Nowsud, also in Kermanshah Province.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has reported that the incident took place in the early hours of 10 November in the Tak Derakht border area of Nowsud while Abdollahi was engaged in kolbari.
The explosion severed Abdollahi’s right leg at the ankle. His condition has been reported as critical.
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.