PJAK sets fire people’s property. This sentence is a summary of the present report. The PJAK has damaged the property of people and economic activists as much as thousands of dollars. Why are the Iranian government and its law enforcement agencies absent? Nobody knows exactly!
Following the reports received by the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch (IKHRW) about the PJAK’s harassment and extortion of people in the Kurdish regions of Iran, the IKHRW has repeatedly published various documents on how this group has created fear and panic among the people. The PJAK terrorist group is trying to achieve its goals through extortion. Meanwhile, the people of Iranian Kurdistan have been facing the problems of terrorist groups for years, and their security is threatened both financially and physically. The latest victim of this extortion is extremely horrible. The enormous amount of destruction perpetrated by PJAK leads one to believe that this group has no goal but to destroy the Kurds.
In an interview with the IKHRW, Mr. Danaei, as a victim of PJAK extortion in Mariwan, said, “I am a tenant and I have not paid my rent for six months”. PJAK made me bankrupt. What have I and my family done for which we are treated in this way and no one makes our voice be heard by the authorities? Like other people, I work hard to meet my family needs. But PJAK terrorists easily extort me and while claiming to help the people. I confrim that these are a big lie. They are against the Kurdish people in Iran.”
Mr. Danaei also told us about the bitter incident: “On the night that the PJAK attacked us and set fire our machinery, my two brothers, who are engineers, and I, as contractors, had a contract with the Department of Agriculture, which was about four thousand hectares of cultivated lands and for providing the ground for mechanization of agriculture. The people of the area were satisfied and helped us. These machines and the work on them had led to employment for more than twenty families. On the other hand, if this project is accomplished, it will be the biggest economic opportunity to the people of this region to create jobs; but this group does not want people to be comfortable nor have jobs. They are unsatisfied with the people’s development. PJAK wants people to be poor in order to deceive and kidnap more children in poverty.”
“Our project employer was the Department of Agriculture and had nothing to do with political-security issues,” he added. That night, they kidnapped our first guard, a sixty-year-old man. He was frightened. He said that there were ten PJAK members who all threatened him by guns, kidnapped him, broke his cell phone and finally beat him. Then four of them returned to the machine storage area and set fire to all our machines with gasoline and grenades. They are the enemies of the Kurdish people and they do not want the people to be happy. My project ultimately benefited the people and created employment for the youth. This crime has left me with no means to work. I have no money to work now. My machines are completely burned out and unusable. All twenty families earning their living this way have lost their jobs. While they are all tenants like me. Is this service to the Kurds or a betrayal?”
Regarding the reaction of the law enforcement agencies to the incident at that night, Mr. Danaei said: “The distance between our project and the fire station was for two hours. The road was not good and not easily accessible. By the time the fire truck arrived, all the machinery had already burnt and nothing was left to be put out. PJAK even set fire the water supply car. The governor’s office and the police also declared the incident as terrorist act; but in fact, no compensation, no cooperation. They said insurance does not pay for the security incidents.
We asked Mr. Danaei what he thought about this group and their purpose, and why they treated people like this? He replied: “PJAK has no purpose other than harming the people and harassing them; there have been several incidents so far they have set fire to poultry and livestock farms and small and medium-sized workshops. In these workshops, the local Kurdish people work. Doing so, they harm the Kurds. PJAK has only targeted Kurds. It is useless to expect a group living in the mountains to treat in a human way. If I and the other co-workers in the workshops have no jobs, our children must go hungry. PJAK members extort people. If someone resists, they will be killed. If they pay, they will be condemned by the government for supporting the terrorist group, while the government must support us.”
It is worth mentioning that Mr. Danaei has sent photos of these PJAK terrorist actions to the IKHRW, which will be published in due time.
