'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎31v] (67/610)

50
Muhammad Ali Khan, chief of the Qashquli tribe, from the
rebels, and induced Quvvam-ul-Mulk to muster his Arabs
against Saulat-ud-Dauleh.
On July 26th Saulat-ud-Dauleh was signally defeated, at
Chinar-Rahdar, and fled South, pursued by a force under the
leadership of the new Ilkhanl. The subsequent operations in the
Qashqal country were protracted into the winter, but order was
rapidly restored in the rest of Ears.
The disaffection in Pars did not spread to the province of
Kirman, and the loyalty of the Kirman brigade of South Persia
Rifles was never doubted.
Events in East
Persia, Slst&n
cordon.
Khor&s&n and
fiist&n Levy
Corps.
On account of the constant efforts of Germany and Turkey
to get emissaries through Persia into Afghanistan and India—
efforts which the Persian Government were unable or unwilling
to frustrate—the Indian Government established a military
cordon from Sistan to Birjand, and the Russian Government
carried on the cordon to their, own frontier. When the Russian
troops were withdrawn in the spring of 1918, the Indian Govern
ment decided to prolong the Indian cordon to Sarakhs. The
headquarters of this force were established at Meshed on March
20th.
Corps of Persian irregulars were raised in Khorasan and
Sistan chiefly to stop the passage of Germans into Afghanistan
and also to suppress brigandage and guard the frontier against
Afghan marauders.
The Quetta-Nushki railway was gradually extended to the
Persian border, and ultimately to Duzdab, in order to facilitate
these operations.
The Persian Government protested against these various
activities in East Persia, and tried, for a time, to deter men
from enlisting in the levy corps, but the people 'of Khorasan
and Sistan found distinct benefit in the presence of the Indian
troops, and no local difficulties arose at any time in connection
with this military occupation.
In the end of June General Malleson was placed in command
of the military mission in Khorasan, and also took charge of the
operations undertaken in support of the provisional government
in Transcaspia.
But the destinies of Persia are much more closely dependent
on European, than on Asiatic politics, and the main difficulties
and anxieties of the Persian Government lay in the North
Western provinces, which stood in the path of the outer turmoil
of the great war.