Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎79v] (158/248)

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Government gave an example oi their usual weakness by replying to Qummi in a
Cabinet decree in which they stated that in the matter of the veil there would be
no molestation and that mixed schools for boys and girls would be abolished,
and gave him some satisfaction on the other points also.
. '/a ! . x 5. Public security in the capital and in some of the provinces is
^deteriorating; hooliganism and stabbing are prominent, and though one criminal
has actually been executed in Tehran, robbery and crimes of violence seem likely-
to go on increasing as long as rising prices increase the misery of the poor.
Tribal Situation — South-West Persia.
6 . In my despatch under reference I suggested that if the Persian Govern
ment did not mishandle the advantageous situation that had resulted from the
dispersal of Nasir Qashgai’s forces and the occupation by Government troops
of Firuzabad and Farashband there was an opportunity of making a settlement
with the Qashgai tribes that might lead to a temporary peace. The Persian
Government, however, failed entirely to make use of the political factors in their
favour; the Persian forces failed to press their military advantage; new
intrigues were set on foot, encouraged, no doubt, by German agents; and the
Boir Ahmadi tribes, under the absconding chief, Abdullah Zarghampur, were
persuaded to lend support to the Qashgai.
7. On the 3rd July the tribes, assisted, it is commonly believed, by treachery
among the troops, scored a signal success against a Persian garrison at Semirum,
a village on the northern limit of the Qashgai summer quarters. The whole
force of some 900 men, after a poor show of resistance, was captured by the tribes
with all its arms.
8 . This disaster entirely altered the situation. The tribes were greatly
encouraged. The Persian forces, correspondingly depressed, became obviously
incapable of restoring the situation by their own efforts. Fortunately, it had
already been decided that Bushire should be closed as an entry port for supplies
to Russia and there were only some 550 trucks there to be moved up the Shiraz-
Isfahan road. These were escorted by troops of Persia and Iraq force and were
cleared without incident. But there was still ample cause for anxiety. The
Boir Ahmadi, whose territory touches the southern oilfields, were now in open
rebellion; some sections of the Bakhtiari, under Abdul Qasim, were known to be
harbouring German agents and to be in close contact with the Boir Ahmadi and
Qashgai leaders; the tribes, suffering under real and imagined grievances of
the last twenty years, were in a mood that predisposed them to listen to incite
ment against the Central Government and the British authorities who supported
it. It was presumably the desire of German agents to create the maximum amount
of disorder in the hope of creating opportunities for sabotage, embroiling British
troops with the tribes and dislocating to the maximum extent the country’s
economy and administration.
9. Frightened by the possibilities and by their own weakness the Shah
and the Government proposed to send Qavam ul Mulk to Fars as governor-
general with extensive powers, hoping that by his influence he would be able
to rally against Nasir Qashgai the Khassah tribes, who formerly owed allegiance
to his family, and even some of the Qashgai tribes. I cordially supported this
proposal, but the Government, in truly Persian fashion, having decided that their
salvation lay in the Qavam, then made every difficulty about the grant to him of
the reasonable conditions he demanded and made no attempt to check the power
ful intrigues against his appointment that were at once instigated by Nasir’s
friends and other enemies of the Allies.
10 . It was not until the 10 th August that Qavam ul Mulk left for Shiraz.
Meanwhile, Nasir and his brother, Khasrow, had already notified the Governor
of Bakhtiari, a fellow-tribesman, of their desire to open negotiations with the
Persian authorities. This was undoubtedly in part due to the appointment of
Qavam, but to a greater extent to the fall of Mussolini and the Russian victories,
I news of which had by this time filtered through to the tribes. A meeting was
arranged between Nasir, Khosrow, the Governor of Bakhtiari and the newly
appointed general officer commanding of the Persian forces of the south, at which
Colonel Robert, a British liaison officer, who has established some personal
prestige with the Qashgai leaders, was present. The outcome of this meeting
was that Khosrow agreed to come to Tehran to express repentance for past mis
deeds, and to ask for certain terms for himself and his brother. They amounted
to this: Khrosrow should be made governor of the Qashgai; he undertook to
return all arms captured from Persian troops and to restrain the tribes from
robbing; Nasir should be allowed to be elected a Deputy for Firuzabad, and when