Coll 28/28 ‘Persia. Perso-Baluchistan Frontier. Demarcation near Mirjawa.’ [‎318r] (646/658)

26
15. The Salar, who says that he cannot get any instructions from Tehran
nor any information from Kerman, threatens to resign his appointment; and
this lack of co-ordination on the part of the Persian Government bids fair to
defer the completion and detract from the success of a plan well be^un and so
easy of fulfilment. r ■ °
The last orders of the Persian Government received by the Salar directed
him to relieve the British garrison at Duzdap, Mirjawa and Khwash by equal
numbers and return the rest of his troops to Birjand. He has, however, left
200 men at Khwash, instead of 80. About 100 have halted at Mirjawa, there
are 300 at Duzdap, and he has no intention of sending any back to Birjand.
Good as his troops are he loses a certain number of men by desertion from his
Baluchis, and has therefore only left 30 Baluchis in the Khwash garrison.
The capacity of his officers varies very considerably, and the Officer Command
ing at Khwash, Sultan Ibrahim, son of Hamid-ud-Dauleh, late Governor of
Duzdap, is not among the best of them.
16. A matter which should cause us the most serious consideration is the
future of the Bekis and Ismailzais with their Chiefs Taj Muhammad and Juma
Khan, and, still more, the future of that very gallant and faithful servant of
the British Government, Khan Sahib Idu Khan, I.D.S.M., Ressaldar Major of
the Sarhad Levy Corps.
Besides the Bekis of Ladgahst, who are of undivided British nationality,
the Bekis of Mirjawa and Ladis have sections who live for the greater part of
their time in British territory, and claim to be British subjects. Unfortunately
Mirjawa formed the subject of an international incident; and the Persians,
who are intensely ignorant of all that pertains to this frontier, believe the tribe
to be wholly Persian. Ever since we opened the Seistan trade route we have
had Bekis in our Chagai Levies ; and Khan Sahib Idu Khan was for twenty
years before the War a duffadar A Non-Commissioned Officer in the Indian Cavalry. of various British posts. The Kachha and
Saindak posts are now held by Beki tribal levies provided by Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Taj
Muhammad whose nationality is wholly Persian, while Bobat, Piran and Lar
are held by Ismailzais, few of whom have any claim to British nationality.
To understand the value of the services rendered by Khan Sahib Idu
Khan it is necessary to read General Dyer’s “ Baiders of the Sarhad I do
not think that it is too much to say that the services he has given since the
surrender of the Damanis have been one of the chief factors in the maintenance
of peace in the Sarhad. With the encouragement of the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. of
Chagai Idu Khan has put a 1 ! his savings into a fort which is only 1,500 yards
from Khwash fort, and into Karezes in its vicinity. His position here
is resented by the Persians, and, without their support, will become
impossible.
The Ismailzais too, when once they had joined General Dyer, became
the most loyal adherents of the British Government.
It must not be forgotten that both these tribes were told by General
Dyer that they had become British subjects, and that their chiefs signed
sanads accepting the status. They have since been told that this was not
the case; but they have served us faithfully for 7i years.
17. I have endeavoured to make the Salar understand that the Bekis
and Ismailzais are the best counterpoise to the Damanis, and the best pro
tection to the railway. I think he sees this, but though he has commenced to
work almost entirely through Idu Khan, yet he undoubtedly resents the
manner in which the Bekis still look to us. He tells me too that the Governor
Kerman unjustly, as he thinks, has demanded that Saidar Juma Khan
should be punished because one Ismailzai was in the Jeruft raid, though
this man was a refugee from his own tribe and a servant of Dost Muhammad.
Though it has been possible to see that those who served us were well
done by the Salar, it will be inadvisable to keep up liaison such as we have
now with the Persians when once they have established themselves along the
whole frontier; and, in any case, the Salar is^ a military °ffi ce £ will
soon cease to have any concern with the administration of the k,arhad. . 1
trust, therefore, that His Majesty’s Minister may find occasion to explain
to the Persian Government the value of the Bekis and Ismailzais as a