Coll 17/10(1) 'Internal: political situation; relations with HMG' [‎244r] (492/982)

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^ D0C .^!L T . IS ™ E PR ° PERTy ^ HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S
EASTERN (Iraq).
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 3433/1583/93]
i IN
June 3, 1935.
Section 2.
Sir A. Clark Kerr to Sir John Simon.—(Received June 3)
(No. 283.)
® lr > „ ^ , , , T Bagdad, May 22, 1935
WITH reference to my despatch No. 267 of the loth May last, I have the
honour to inform you that the situation on the Middle Euphrates and in the
Muntafiq Province has greatly improved during the past week.
nv/r May Jafar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. the Minister of War, accompanied by
Mr. Ditchbuin, new to Nasiriyah m an Iraqi Air Force machine to consult with
the mutessarif and to speak to a gathering of tribal sheikhs of the Muntafiq
Confederation.
3. The situation in the Nasiriyah liwa was then critical. On the previous
day 300 police had surrendered with their arms to the insurgents at
Suq-al-Shiyukh, and there was good reason to fear that the tribes of the Shatrah
on the Hai, might join the insurrection, and thereby cut the only remaining route
by which reinforcements could be sent to the Muntafiq area. The tribes in the
vicinity of Nasiriyah were truculent, and it was believed that an attack on the
town was imminent.
4. On arrival at Nasiriyah, Jafar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. first interviewed the Shatrah
sheikhs. His friendly manner quickly put them at their ease, and his speech, in
which he emphasised that if disorder prevailed Iraq would be judged unfit to
govern herself, made a considerable impression on his audience. The Nasiriyah
sheikhs then joined the meeting and, after further conference, Jafar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
agreed to a truce. The conditions were that the Government should open
negotiations at once with the Alim, Kashif-al-Ghata, regarding the Shiah
demands (the text of which was enclosed in my despatch No. 171 of the
28th March), and that, pending the conclusion of these negotiations, there should
be no further hostilities in the Nasiriyah liwa. Jafar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. further agreed that
during the truce no troops, other than the two battalions already en route for
Nasiriyah, should be sent to the Muntafiq area. For their part, the sheikhs also
undertook to arrange for the release of the police and other officials who had been
captured by the tribes in Suq-al-Shiyukh. On the same day the first of the two
battalions, which had been despatched from Bagdad in lorries, reached
Nasiriyah via Kut and the Hai, and adequate supplies of small-arms ammunition
were sent down by aeroplane. A second battalion arrived on the following day.
All immediate anxiety for the safety of Nasiriyah town was thus removed, and
when Jafar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and Mr. Ditchburn returned to Bagdad on the 17th May the
situation was much easier.
5. While the events described above were taking place the troops advancing
from Diwaniyah were fighting a successful and decisive engagement with the
Rumaitha insurgents. Their machine guns inflicted heavy casualties on the
tribesmen and Sheikh Khawwam, the local leader, and his brother were wounde
and captured. The following day (the 17th May) the column enterea Rumai a
and the insurrection in this area was at an end. The advance was continue ie
next day, and on the 21st May the column reached Samawa.
6. The complete success of the operation at Rumaitha left the overnmen
free to deal with the situation in the Nasiriyah liwa Negotiations were opened
with Kashif-al-Ghata through Haji Muhsm-al-Shallash, a very wealthy
merchant of Najaf, who at one time was Minister for Finance, an e j
persuaded to send an exhortation to the Muntafiq tribes o ®fP ® P -J
prevent all fighting. How far negotiations on the “ demands themselves have
progressed I have not yet heard, but I gather that Yasm ] as ( ^’ _ A an q p 1
sympathetic to the idea of greater Shiah participation m 16 .] , ulema to
the public services, is very much opposed to recognising e
represent the Shiah community in political affairs.
[431 c—2]