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The comments
of
Mr. Kazem Jafroudi
Find out
more about
Mr. Jafroudi
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(These comments
are extracts from The Story of the Revolution produced by the BBC Persian
Service.)
Chapter Four:
1st comment
"I kept sending my office chief to go and investigate
every half an hour to see what was happening at the prime minister's office.
He kept reporting back that the building of the prime minister's office
was gradually being surrounded by armed men, who were tightening their
circle all the time. At ten twenty in the morning, Field -Marshal Qarabaghi
telephoned me and asked me to put hi in touch with Engineer Bazargan.
He said that the army had decided at a meeting to assume a neutral position
and all the senior army officers had endorsed the decision. I asked him
whether he knew the consequences of this decision. I asked him: `Do you
understand the consequences of this decision? It means you have surrendered
the state.` I told him to ring the prime minister immediately, because
his life was in danger and said that he was responsible for the prime
minister's life. He said that he would ring him straight away."
Chapter Four:
2nd comment
"The meeting had been arranged in advance and
these gentlemen were supposed to come to my house for lunch. The prime
minister had arranged to come straight from his office with Dr Abbasqoli
Bakhtiar. After taking off in the helicopter from the cadet training college,
he had landed at Aqdassiyeh [Garrison, north of Tehran]. From there, he
went in a Peykan car to a previously arranged hiding place. Before going,
he telephoned me from Aqdassiyeh and I informed him that my house was
crowded with people and it was impossible for him to come there and also
quite dangerous. As a result, these gentlemen proceeded to their hiding
place. At the same time, I telephoned General Qarabaghi and said: `General,
you and your companions had better not come to my house in your military
uniforms, because you will be recognized and that might be dangerous for
you.` General Qarabaghi came with Lt.-General Nasser Moqaddam, may God
bless his soul, accompanied by a civilian guard all in one car. Before
their arrival, Engineer Bazargan had come with Dr Yadollah Sahabi and
Engineer Abbas Amir-Entezam. These three gentlemen were followed by a
large crowd, which poured into Saltanat-Abad Avenue. I remember it well.
Following a request made by Engineer Bazargan, Mr Yodollah Sahabi took
a megaphone and went on top of a pedestal to ask the crowd to disperse.
He addressed the crowd with the following remarks: `Gentlemen, today is
the decisive day of the struggle. An important meeting is about to take
place in this house. I ask you to disperse from the areas around this
house, so that the individuals, who want to attend the meeting, can make
their way into the house.`"
Chapter Four:
3rd comment
"We
were all sitting in my house, when a friend of mine, who was in charge
of the radio, telephoned and asked to interview Mr Bazargan. He asked
whether they should come to my house or Mr Bazargan should go to the radio
station. I passed the message to Engineer Bazargan, who volunteered to
go to the radio station and there he broadcast the following speech: `I
am delighted to offer my congratulations to the combative Muslim nation
of Iran, who today has survived a torturous and anxious journey to achieve
victory for its revolution. I deem it necessary to express my gratitude
to army officers and soldiers, I would like to recommend that in accordance
with Imam Khomeini's assertion, the army is part of the nation and you
must treat army officers and soldiers as your brothers. Our dear compatriots
must demonstrate patience and must give this government a chance to employ
far-sightedness and justice to direct the country along the right path.
It is obvious that chaos, anarchy and confusion, will not only prevent
us from achieving something positive, but it will, God forbid, make matters
much worse and more catastrophic than ever before."
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