Dad Shah

Who is Dad Shah?

Mir Dad Shah or Mir Daad Shah was a farmer who lived in Nillag village of Iranian Balochistan in the 1950s. Due to his dislike of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, he rose up against the government. Daad Shah's wife, Bibi Hatun, also fought with him. Dad Shah was support by Iraq through local Balochi politician Mir Abdi, who went into self-exile in Iraq. Dad Shah killed tribal chief Sardar Muhammad Darani of Zahedan. Sardar Darani was the commander-in-chief of the Zahedan area at the time. In 1957, Daad Shah’s tribal chiefs betrayed. His chiefs called for him to come to negotiations where he was killed in a gun battle with Iranian Forces. Mir Abdi was persuaded by the Shah to return to Iran and gave him privileges to stop his political campaign against Iran.

The struggle came to an end by an agreement between Iran and Iraq, where Iran stopped support for the Kurdish struggle in Iraq, while Iraq deprived the Baloch from theirs. However, Iraq secretly supported the separatists until the 1980s, when the Iraq-Iran War and Iraq openly gave Balochi groups a large amount of financial and military aid.