Zahedan


Zahedan is a city and capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 587,730.

Etymology

Zâhedân derives from the plural of the Persian word zâhid, meaning 'pious'.

Geography

Zahedan is located near Pakistan and Afghanistan, only about south of the tripoint of the borders of the three countries, at an altitude of above sea level and at a distance of from the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Climate

Zahedan has a hot desert climate with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is very low, and mostly falls in winter.

Education

Zahedan is the home of the Islamic Azad University of Zahedan, the Zahedan University of Medical Sciences
and the University of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Besides, the largest Sunni seminary, Darululoom Zahedan, is located in Zahedan. There are some other religious Sunni schools in the city and the vicinity.

History, culture and demographics

The demographics of Zahedan's inhabitants are largely ethnic Baloch who speak the Balochi language and Sistanis who speak various dialects of Persian language such as Sistani, Yazdi and Khorasani. There are also smaller numbers of Pashtuns and Kurds.
Zahedan lies east of the Kavir-e Loot desert. The city was part of the historic region of Sistan, situated today on the borders of southeastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan. One portion is part of the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan. The other portion is part of the Nimruz Province of Afghanistan.
The name Sistan comes from 'Sakastan', of which Sistan was once the westernmost part. The Saffarids, one of the early Iranian dynasties of the Islamic era, were originally rulers of Sistan. In the Shahnameh, Sistan is also referred to as Zabulistan, after Zabol, a city in the region. In Ferdowsi's epic, Zabulistan is in turn described to be the homeland of the mythological hero-king Rostam.
Zahedan and the area of Sistan has a very strong connection with Zoroastrianism and during Sassanid times Lake Hamun was one of two pilgrimage sites for followers of that religion. In Zoroastrian religion, the lake is the keeper of Zoroaster's seed and just before the final renovation of the world, three maidens will enter the lake, each then giving birth to the saoshyants who will be the saviours of mankind at the final renovation of the world. The most famous archaeological site in Sistan is on Kuh-e Khwajeh, a hill rising up as an island in the middle of Lake Hamun.
Zahedan is a centre for Sunni Muslims in Baluchistan. The Makki mosque and its madrasa play an important role in Baluchistan's society. Shaikh Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi is the main and most influential religious and Sunni community leader in Iran that is heading Makki mosque and its institutions. Zahedan also has a Friday mosque for Shi'ite and a Jame mosque, where many members of the community gather to worship on Fridays. A colorful bazaar, Rasouli Bazaar, can also be found in the city, where Baluchi and Pashtun traders intermingle. About south of Zahedan is an intermittently active volcano, Taftan, which rises abruptly from the surrounding plain.

Demographics

Although the surrounding area has many ancient sites, Zahedan itself developed mainly in the 20th century. Before being chosen as the provincial administrative center in the 1930s, Zahedan was a small village. Its population reached 17,500 by 1956 and increased more than fivefold to 93,000 by 1976. After 1980, large numbers of refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan helped triple the population of Zahedan to more than 281,000 by 1986, a number which has since doubled again.

Etymology

Before the rise of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1923, the city of Zahedan was known as Dozz-aap. That name was in turn derived from the Persian Dozd-aab, literally meaning "water thief". This is the name given to a sandy land formation that quickly swallows up any water that falls on it, be it rain or irrigation water.
The name was changed to Zahedan by the Iranian Academy of Culture, set up during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi in the 1930s, which changed a myriad of toponyms in Iran. However, the name is not just a neologism: instead, it is taken from the medieval city of Zaidan, whose ruins stretch for miles on both banks of the lower Helmand river near its inland delta in Iranian Sistan. Although the imposing ruins of medieval Zaidan are tens of miles away from modern Zahedan, somehow it was seen fit to rename Dozd-aab after this prestigious historic city. A folk etymology maintains, however improbably, that the current name, Zahedan was given to the city upon its visit by Reza Shah. It is believed that when Reza Shah visited the city he saw Sikhs in white robes living there and thus changed the name to Zahedan after the Sikhs who were considered Zahid by him.

Sports

In April 2008 the 70 billion IRR Zahedan Stadium was built with a seating capacity of 15,000 people. It was inaugurated on 18 April 2008 with a friendly football game between Honarmandan versus a local team.

Economy

Zahedan is the main economic center of the region and home to many small- and medium-scale industries. Its main products include cotton textiles, woven and hand-knotted rugs, ceramics, processed foods, livestock feed, processed hides, milled rice, brick, reed mats and baskets.

Transport

Zahedan is served by Zahedan International Airport.
Highway 95 links Zahedan to Tehran and Mashhad in the north and the port of Bandar Chabahar on the Sea of Oman in the south, and Highway 84 to the Pakistani city of Quetta in the east and to Kerman in the west.
For many years, a broad gauge railway line has extended from Zahedan railway station to Quetta railway station in Pakistan along the Quetta–Taftan Railway Line. More recently, a standard gauge line was completed from Zahedan to Kerman in central Iran, linking Zahedan with the rest of the Iranian rail network. This was the result of an 18 May 2007, MOU for rail cooperation that was signed by Pakistan and Iran under which the line was to be completed by December 2008. The line was officially completed with an opening ceremony on 19 June 2009. This makes Zahedan the location of the break of gauge between the Islamic Republic of Iran Railway's standard gauge tracks and Pakistan Railway's broad gauge tracks.

Chabahar–Zahedan railway

In May 2016, during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to Iran, agreement was signed to develop two terminals and five berths at Port of Chabahar and to build a new railway line between Chabahar and Zahedan, as part of North–South Transport Corridor, by Indian Railway's public sector unit Ircon International.
The establishment of the port of Chabahar's connection to the country's railway plan is under study and consideration. With the completion of the Kerman–Zahedan railway and its connection to the port of Chabahar, this port will connect to the Trans-Iranian Railway.
In July 2016, India began shipping USD$150 million worth of rail tracks to Chabahar to build USD$1.6 billion Chabahar–Zahedan railway by India's Ircon International, for which India pledged additional US$400 million and Iran has also allocated US$125 million in December 2016, thus taking the total allocation to US$575 million till the end of 2016.