'Administration Reports of the Persian Gulf, 1945 [-1946]' [‎22r] (54/414)

chapter III
BrLIglSH aOFSULATE , SHIHAZ »
Appreciation of local conditions,
December, 1944 to June, 1945
1. The period under review has been specially notable as a
period of peace and security. This, in a »tribal rt province, is
a remarkable record and an administrative achievement that should
be kept in mind when reading the account of local bickering that
follows•
2. Pars has three outstanding personalities who could be a
powerful influence for good if they all worked together for the
public weal or a powerful influence for bad if they all seek only
their own personal ends. The men in question are Qavam ul Mulk
who seems blindly determined to play the part of the villian of
the place. General Firuz the Governor-Geareral who is the often
ineffective fairy godmother and Muhammad Kasir Khan
the impetuous and directionless leader of the Q.ashqai who thinks
he has the one true claim to fill the role of hero.
3. Hasir Khan is wh^t fate has made him,. That is he was born
the eldest son of a tyrannical tribal leader with an anti-British
reputation, he suffered imprisonment under Heza Shah and saw his
father die (of natural causes) under restraint. When the Allies
entered Persia in 1942 Isfasir Khan escaped to his native mountains
where (at least mentally) he has remained ever tince and where he
is at a complete loss to know what to do next or to work out
where he stands. The facts that on the one hand he and his family
claim to have made approaches to us over a period of years and to
have have received little or no encouragement and on the other
hand that in addition to their record during the last war they
received German parachutists in the present war do not ielp Nasir
to define his position and to fix on some safe and sure line of
policy for the future. He wants to get on our side and so has
become reconciled to Qavam ul Mulk but heither of them trusts the
other and the alliance is not likely to be a lasting one.
4. t^avam ul Mulk is known, too well in Fars, as the faithful
friend of the British. This is a reputation of v/hich (^avam has
taken the fullest advantage in the pursuit of his own ends. He
has not been above implying that s consuls come and go in Shiraz
according to whether they suit him, that he has access when
required to Smbasay archives and that he receives his directions
straight from London. Because his hearers are eager to win out
support and have never heard the lie given to his pretentions,
Q.avara is able to get his implications of British backing accepting
in general by all classes of people through out the lenght and
breadth^ of Fars and in particular by persons such as Nasir ^.abhqai
and political parties such as the Hezb Democrat ( which represents
the bazaar of Shiraz and hag a backing of big proprietors and
landowners).
5. The last twenty years seem to have taught ^avam nothing
and he is now perhaps past learning. He is a rich man and a
mean one. He is as public spirited as a feudal baron and his
ultimate aim s ems to be the increase of his own wealth and
influence. H© is, as the Tudeh Party says, a frank reactionary
and, as such, a millstone around our neck.
6. Between the uneasy bedfellows, ^avam . ul Mulk
and Hasir Qashqai stands Geareral Firuz undetermined and unhappy.
He cannot torget that as a 4 a j ar prince he is a superior person
and yet he suffers from the inferiority complex that he does not
enjoy our complete confidence. Firuz is generally held to be
weak because he is anxious to please everyone. a stronger man
than Firuz would have called ^avam'S bluff long ago. But we are