Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 12, 1997

Early in the morning we flew to Qom with helicopters. After the official military reception at the center of the army, we started with the shrine, pilgrimage and fatiha at the grave of his father. Then we went to Dar al-Shafa school for the meeting of experts. The meeting started with the speech of Mr. [Ali] Meshkini, [Chairman of the Assembly of Leadership Experts]. Two or three representatives also spoke and relied on the role of the leadership and me in the progress of the revolution. Mr. Meshkini said about the legitimacy of the province, even without elections, it did not take place. Regarding the necessity of khums, but the jurist said that it was not applicable either. Mr. [Syed Ali Akbar] Qureshi, representative of Urmia, strongly criticized the series of Imam Ali (AS). Elections of the board of directors and commissions were held, and the same people as before were elected. We breathed.

I went for national affairs, including the opening of Noor cultural complex. Mr. [Mahmoud] Mohammadi Iraqi, [Head of the Islamic Propaganda Organization] reported: 14 thousand square meters of land and 8 thousand square meters of buildings were built, mostly with the help of the government and leadership. I am also in

I talked about the necessity of such centers and the need to make them full of content in order to be a model for other cultural centers. Many people gathered around the complex; They were in the meeting with warm feelings and a large number of students.

Next, we went to open a convenience store that was built at a cost of one billion tomans. It is a general store. I visited different departments. They told me to buy something; I told them to give a soap dispenser which they didn't have and they were ashamed. They said before, they have everything. A large number of people gathered with passionate emotions.

We were at the governorate for prayer, rest and lunch. We saw the replica of Astana's Great Square; it is good They still disagree on the characteristics of the plan. We saw the school for foreign students, which was built next to the governor's office, at the expense of the leadership, and on a dedicated land. It is very vast: 60,000 square meters built on five hectares of land, sleeping for about a thousand people, dozens of classrooms, libraries, meeting halls, restaurants, and good rooms. I talked with several Indian, Japanese, Pakistani and Malaysian students.

We flew to Salafchagan. There was a ceremony for the opening of the Qom-Salfchegan highway and the ground-breaking ceremony of the passenger welfare complex there and the start of operation of the Talab Janbaz settlement. Then there was another ceremony at the Salafchegan Telecommunication Office, to take advantage of dozens of telecommunication and postal projects, with a cost of seventeen billion tomans, and in the first ceremony, Mr. Turkan, [Minister of Roads and Transport] and Mr. Halvayi, [Technical Deputy Minister of Roads] and Saidinejad, [Head of the country's Terminals Organization], spoke. In the second ceremony, Mr. Khorehi, [Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone] and his deputy; In both ceremonies, I also spoke and announced the construction of the protected economic zone in Salafchegan in the future and the completion of the highway to Shiraz in 1376. A large number of people of the region gathered with sacrifices and expressing their feelings.

We returned to Tehran. By nine o'clock at night, I completed the work. Mr. Hossein Marashi and Mehdi Hashemian came and reported on the Rafsanjan elections. Mehdi has a lot of complaints against Ashikh Hossein's rival [Hashmian] and expects the inspectors to go to the region, but Mr. Marashi doesn't think like that.