Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎108r] (216/669)

Chief of j olice wap far too experienced an officer to have ac
without clearl,/ written instruction* (till* estimate wan correct) and
tnat tac enqulrJey would only become interesting when it found its
way to the Governor-General, according to the Chief of police, the
Governor—General prevailec or* the head of the Department of Justice
not to take any «teps in the matter until he (tae u overnor-(*eneral)
u had had the opportunity to acquaint the i^ricae ..ii air ter with the
^^fevelo . t war are somewhat greceler- of the Cnie
^ ! i’olico, wao had certainly been privy to there manoeuvre*, to apk the
V />v i resident of the High Court why it had taken two **eke for v the
notice to show cause to travel from the Department of Justice to
iolice :ie ad quarters. The Chief of rolice has apparently given a
brief and unilluminating reply to the notice to shew cause, which
in fact took the form of on official request for information on the
facts of the arrest, and there the official • iv rente*
(15) the circumstances of the Tie hwaz of Teqabat, Deputy
for Ciorra ishahr, suggest t lat he hao been co it »issioned to act. on
behalf of his associate*. It appears that lie lately
after his arrival he began to look for evidence against t ie ‘over or-
General anc attempted to whip up public opinion against hi .
Disappointed in both tasks, he is reported to have attempted to
arrange a compromise with the Governor—General on behalf of his
clients.
(16) 4 /ubj.ic opinion, as far as it exists, is strongly behi d the
| Governor—General, and scurrilous suggestions in ehr—i-iran" and
^xraii-i-wia" merely provoke the reflection that the ovaqars must
have extraordinarily poor prospects for the coming elections if they
are having to sell them*elves to Abrishomker and Behbahani in order
to get the necessary financial baakii . The official* concerned
the arrest of the four hoarders are, however, very consciou* of the
influence which ifjrisho<-ikar* s and Lelibahani’s wealth commands and
arc continually stressing the benefits that have followed their
actio, a the : glty of giving thei; strong support. their
fears are not entirely groundless is shown by the conduct of Aghai
afisi wno is reported to have stated to the Coiamis^ion of inquiry
in Tehran that he knew nothing about the transaction except that he
was intimidated and insulted by behbanani and his two creatures;
in fact, Aghai Pafisi stuteo quite definitely after the riot ttat he
would be unable to take any responsibility for the food supplies of
.^Ahiizistaa.unl^e /£ue four persons were rei.ioved from fhuzistan and
preiVrhbly to a place where they would be unable to mace intrigues
in Tehran.
(17) The state of the gendarmerie in Kiuzistan, particularly in
the areas r mo ter fro; : . Ahraz, is far fro ; satisfactory.
Co randi P Gene armeiixe, Behbahan, stater to the -fs icer Co iKianding
Persian Troops, in His Majesty 9 e ^lee—Consul *» presence^ that unless
their conditions of service were quickly improved he would be
unable to guarantee their loyalty. (The Behbahan area is at present
naturally the aoet diffic'iit for the gendarmerie, anr) tribal
disturbances are having a decided effect on the locally recruited
gendarmes.) In the fortnight under review, three gendarme* ox the
Telbl tribe deserted from Deb ulla with their arms, and a gendarme
belonging to ^anawati section of Behbahan deserted from ilawand,
taking his horse. • earer headquarters, the Gendarmerie Off ice j'
Comuandirq the -uuwaz "guruhan** has been suspended for taking a snare
ih c the profits of the marauding )ancis of the notorious Sheikh of
Zaran.
(lb) The local branc icn of the Banq-i-: ellie have recently been
reaping the fruits of carelessness and false econouiy. it is
apparently taeir practice not to ensure any remittance however
large for ^ore than ..iuls 10,000* rec tly lost in the Post
ffice a remittance in note* of half a million rials. Considering
that no information of the loss was / iven to the police until ten
da a s after the occurrence, they were luc y to recover ial*
570,IXX); their only excuse for the delay in giving iiiformatlop wa*
that they iioped that the lost remittance wouldj^tur
^inganious f