From a Worth London Correspondent,
The Shah's “revolution from the top" — land reforms aimed at winning support from tho peasants to forestall the feared "revolution from the bottom" is not meeting with all the success the Shah had anticip— ated. A report from Teheran appearing in "U.S. News and World Report," indicates what the current situation is,
"Several thousand mountain tribesmen have revolted in Southern Iran, They have captured several military stations and laid siege to others. : Although Iranian officials have tried to keep details of the fighting secrot, they are know to bo worried, The fear is that the revolt might spread, and officials are anxious to snuff it out before other tribes are encouraged to join, The revolt began on March Ist, with a sudden attack on a gondarmorie post in the region of Kazerun, The post of 12 men was wiped out. Soon, action spread. Unable to put down the revolt with four army batallions normally stationed in that area, Iran's governmont has rushed in three battalions of re-inforcements, including paratroopers. The Air Force has also gone into action, strafing and bombing rebel strongholds,
"Despite these measures, on March 10th an Iranian Army Officor returning from the rebel area reported that the situation was getting worse. On March llth, the Shah sent his military chief to do whatever was necessary to crush the rebellion. Contre of the revolt is tho Provinee of Fars, an area twice the size of Switzerland. The rebelling tribes number nearly half a million. There are more than three million other tribesmen in Iran's mountains who have grievances against the government, and among them are the Kurds, a strong volatile group who have long sought autonomy. The idoa at first," the report continues, outliningthe motives of the peasants, “was just to take away from landlords all except one village. But when this was accomplished early this year, many peasants in the villages retained by the landlords raised protests, They too, wanted to owm the land they were tilling.
: “Many of those peasants seizedcontrol of the land by force, Landlords who tried to enter were barred. Some wero manhandled. A few were killed, Thoir houses were destroyed, their orchards cut to the ground. The result was that the Govermmont.. got pushed furthor than it head originally intended to go. I+% expandsd the land reform to restrict the property rights even of those landlords owning only one village. The Shah's ‘revolution from the top!’ is ono’ that many Westernors long have regarded as necessary to bolster his regime. But the Shah is finding that it also has loosed some forces which may prove most difficult to control. " (US News and World Report, March 25th 1963).