Makarem Shirazi Calls for Ban on Immigration of 'Infiltrators' to Qom

Naser Makarem Shirazi, a Shia cleric, a few months after his request for a 'special budget' for the city of Qom, called for preventing the immigration of individuals he refers to as 'infiltrators' to Qom, urging officials and the public to 'separate the account of this city from other cities.' According to IRNA news agency, this cleric stated during a meeting with the mayor of Qom on Tuesday evening, April 5, that 'the dignity of this city is the dignity of Shia Islam, and its problems are also the problems of the Shia world.' Mr. Makarem Shirazi also emphasized in a meeting with the governor of Qom that the government and people should 'pay special attention to Qom' and 'separate the account of this city from other cities in the country.' He further discussed the issues facing Qom, stating, 'Sometimes migrations change the fabric of Qom; sometimes migrations do not align with the culture of Qom. Migration must be managed to preserve Qom's position, and infiltrators, traffickers, and criminals should not be allowed to enter Qom.' Officials of the Islamic Republic also refer to government opponents as 'infiltrators,' and Makarem Shirazi's request to 'not allow' the immigration of 'infiltrators' to Qom comes after the city has witnessed political and social protests alongside other cities in Iran, despite extensive government propaganda. Notably, protests occurred in Qom during the protests in December, where participants chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic, similar to other cities. In 2009, during the funeral of Ayatollah Montazeri in Qom, attendees also chanted slogans against the Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi had previously called on the government on November 2, 2017, to allocate a special budget for Qom, stating, 'A specific budget line should be considered for Qom, and no other cities should object because Qom is different from other cities.' His statements come amid protests regarding the allocation of budgets for seminaries and religious centers in the 2018 budget. Reports indicate that over 2 trillion tomans have been allocated to seminaries in various sections of the 2018 budget. Some parts of the seminary budget in 2018 have increased compared to 2017, including the budget for the Qom Seminary Services Center, which increased from 815 billion tomans in 2017 to 897 billion tomans in 2018, showing a 10% increase. Morteza Kazemian, a political analyst based in Paris, wrote in an article for Radio Farda on December 13, 2017, comparing the budgets of seminaries and religious institutions with other centers, that the budget for the country's emergency organization was announced as 163 billion tomans, and the budget for the Civil Aviation Organization was 57 billion tomans. Kazemian also noted in a memo for Radio Farda that 'despite all expenditures and various overt and covert supports from the government,' statistics related to Qom regarding issues considered social harms in Iran are 'thought-provoking and even tragic.'