Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎234r] (468/669)

4
Jfc ' ype
TRIBAL
($5). Kuh. Gallic The situation remains extremely oh^cnre,
t>oth as regards the tribal situation and as regards the part
to be played by the Persian authorities* Humayu.nl F ^ho re
turned to Ahwaz on 14th, has paid one visit to the area, and
1 r due to go again to meet Colonel Himmat in Hehbehan very
shortly, Khosrow Zarghampur is stated to have surrounded
Pilli, where Abdullah is at present, and has asked for Govern
ment assistance in the shape of ammunition, guns and air
support. Ammunition was sent to hirii, Huinayuni was anxious to
give air support according to his own reports to A,L,0» Ahwaz-—
was definitely against doing^so according to Ramzara f s state
ments t© the Military Attache. In the meantime reports come
of conciliatory efforts from Shiraz. Khosrow Zargliampur was
reported to have acquired quite a large following; but
little fighting is thought to have taken place. Malek .
Mansur Basht Bavi has apparently kept out of it, to the great
disgust of Moz&ffar Ariani, who himself is not believed to
have taken part in any fighting around Pilli, but v;ho is
accused of being one of those responsible for the death in an
ambush of Fathullah, brother of Qaid Fassir Bahador Tamoradi,
This has resulted, it is said, in the transference >y l/xid
Fagsir of his allegiance, with a considerable force', to
Abdullah. Nona of the above, however, has a reliability
above B/C, at the most. If anything should corns of the
suggestion, reported by H,M. Consul, Shiraz, that Abdullah
would be prepared to go elsewhere (but not Tehran, Ispahan,
or any other big centre) such a move would be welcomed by
everybody, not the least this office.
(26) c Arabs* The five sheikhs of the Peri T urud mentioned
in para 8 of Diary Fo. 13 went early in the month to .Tehran,
where they are receiving the active support of Par Jr 2 d i, the
deputy of that area. They are still there and are bb t
expected to return for bhe time being.
(27), Humayuni ha^ started on his disarmament cf
this tribe. He. has two battalions of infantry, 3#0 'cavalry,
some artillery and 10 aircraft. He distributed by air a
notice dated 23rd October, in Arabic (n©t very go®d Arabic),
demanding the surrender of all rifles (text given a? Appendix
to this diary). He called in all the sheikhs cf the
area, who came and professed obedience to the Persian Govern
ment, with the single exception of sheikh Yunus As si of the
Bait ^harhan who will probably fall into line when be sees
that his defiant attitude has no support. The last figure
given of rifles so far collected has been 35§, a figure a
long way short of that which is likely to satisfy Humayuni.
(28), Three of the four forms of Government
assistance promised to the Arabs by Humayuni are already
being effected by- the Finance Department. The fourth is
education. The Governor-General, on being questioned as to
what it was intended should be done in this line, said
that there was always the difficulty of financing anything,
but "he had spoken to the Ministry of Education in Tehran* 1 ,
who had promised to do l V?iat they could n . This is very un
promising. If the Central Government would realise the value
of creating primary schools in the Arab areas, in which
instruction in Arabic was given, and Persian taught, to that
Arabs could then attend higher Persian soh®ois, and even
Persian universities, they could not only make a gesture which
would contribute towards satisfying the Arabs at the present
time, but w®uld lay a foundation for the solution of this
particular minority problem. At the m®ment, there are tvs
Arabs capable cf administration; there is no Arab deputy.
/Any Arab