Piranshahr 1986

Silent Scream

Compiled by: Faezeh Sasanikhah
Translator: Fazel Shirzad

2024-2-9

The area was covered with snow. It was white as far as the eye could see. If one did not know the way, one would surely be lost in the snow and cold in the first moment, and his body would be found in the summer.

I had coordinated with the headquarters commander, Mr. Salehpour, to take supplies, warm clothes and boots to the fighters. Salehpour was against my going to that area and said: It is absolutely impossible that you can reach the heights, where the fighters are stationed, through the snow tunnel that we made for the passage of the fighters. But when he saw my insistence, he accepted.

We moved to the area with two trucks full of supplies. When we reached the beginning of the snow road, I couldn't believe that we saw a snow tunnel 20 meters high in front of us. In the name of God, the trucks entered the tunnel. The tunnel floor was covered with snow, the truck was moving slowly, slowly. The trucks walked in the snow tunnel for about two hours, but after two hours we reached a place where the driver could not pull out the car that was stuck in the snow no matter how hard he tried. The car did not move at all. The fighting boys with us cleared the snow around the wheels, but the truck was moving backwards instead of forwards. We had no choice, we had to get out of the car. We got out of the car and each of us, as far as we could, put the bags of supplies and clothes on our shoulders and started walking towards the area. The snow was so soft that we were sometimes up to our waists in the snow. The warriors who were with us were spreading the snow deeply with both hands to open the way to pass. The depth of the snow in some places was so high that Mrs. Brati and I would sink into the snow up to our chests and could not pull ourselves up. Salehpour took his stick from both sides and we used it to pull ourselves out of the snow. This route took about 4 hours and we reached the warriors no matter how hard it was. When we reached the area, our faces were blue-black due to the extreme cold and movement. Salehpour was very scared, because with this pressure that we had endured along the way, it was possible that we would have a stroke. He immediately ordered the comrades to give us water. The comrades did not have water, so to get water, they poured snow into a container and put it on the stove. to melt Then they would consume it. When I drank the water, I saw an old man who was more than 60 years old. He was shedding tears like a spring cloud.

Tears were flowing like a flood from inside these two furrows. I asked Salehpour: Who is that man? He said: He is the father of three martyrs. I made sure that he remembers his three martyrs and cries. I spoke to him about the reward from God. He said: mother! I don't cry for my children, all three of them sacrificed by Imam. Then, while moving, he continued: Let's go ahead and tell you what I'm crying for. He took me to the edge of a deep valley full of snow and said: We haven't had food for several days. The comrades were in hardship and pressure of hunger. No vehicle could pass through the tunnel and bring us supplies. Inevitably, we wirelessly requested that they bring provisions and warm clothes to the comrades by helicopter. When the helicopter arrived in this area, because everything was covered with snow and white, it did not recognize the exact location of the comrades and dumped all the supplies and warm clothes into the valley. The comrades were desperate. On the one hand, hunger and on the other hand, the cold, which made a difficult situation. If a few more days passed like this, all the comrades would have perished. Five of the best comrades volunteered to go into the valley so that they might be able to bring the supplies back to the comrades. They went into the valley, but no matter how long we waited, they did not return and their oppressed cries were silenced under the snow. The old man said while the flood of tears was flowing from the two slits next to his eyes: We are waiting for the summer to come and the snow to melt so that we can find their bodies and deliver them to their families.[1]