MP Urges Taliban to Allocate Iran’s Water Share, Warns of Eviction of Afghans
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A lawmaker said if Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan does not get the share of water supply under an agreement with Afghanistan, the province will consider deporting the Afghan refugees.
The announcement was made on Sunday by Mohammad Sargazi, who represents constituencies in Sistan region on the border with Afghanistan.
Sargazi said Iran has become more serious in its efforts to persuade the Taliban administration in Afghanistan to comply with its obligations under the 1973 Helmand River water treaty.
“Iran’s envoy to Afghanistan was tasked earlier this week to declare to the ruling group in Afghanistan that if they fail to give Sistan’s water rights all (Afghan) nationals in the province will be expelled,” he said, Press TV reported.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered the country’s foreign ministry to urgently pursue the issue of water rights from the Helmand River amid reports suggesting that people in the Sistan region may face acute water shortages in the upcoming months in the absence of water supply from Afghanistan.
Vice President Mohammad Mokhber traveled to the provincial capital of Zahedan earlier this week to follow up on the order.
Mokhber said during the trip that Iran may be forced to launch legal actions in international institutions to recover its rights from Helmand, river, which is known as Hirmand in Iran.
