Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎322r] (644/669)

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APPRECI A TION OP LOC AL C0I-a.IGI0r~8
Prom April 1'45 to Oo + o'ber 1945
6299
0- ^ F R A L
(1). n he summer in Khuzistan is ho f and exacting:
+ his year i 4 - has been more so than usual, ^he seasonal
torpor this year was interrupted by very few untoward event’s:
perhaps the most disturbing was an armed conflict in the
Dasht-i-Mishan area* on the Iraq, frontier, in June, Rut
the trioes did very little*, a raid by Al land ini Bahmeis in
bep + ember on Izeh provoked 4 he wrath of i/lorteza Quli Jhan,
Governor of Bakhtiari, bu + there was a good deal of politics
and scheming behind his protests and some of 4 he damage has
been recovered* He has, however, forbidden travellers to
use •"‘he Bakhtiari road to Isfahan, an ominous warninof the
insecurity which may come, Bhe railway, in spite of having
been handed back to ‘he Persian administration, s 4 - 1 11 mans,
and security, in spite of gloomy prognostications, has
hitherto been satisfactory, Persian Government departments
still run more or less: embezzlement of funds is said t.o
have reached unheard of proportions. min bolomon. + he
Financial agent, seems t 0 have decided 4 'o go: which means
that embezzlement will spread rapidly t 0 his department.
Victory was welcomed by the province, but i 4 - has made little
difference so far.
L0CAL ADMINIb ~R ATION ,
(2) * The Governor-General, I/Iisbah Fatemy, has con
tinued his ra + her hopeless a+tempt.s to impose his authority
on +he various departments which ought -^o be under his
general guidance. One can say of him -^ha 4 - he might be worse.
About all he really controls is the municipality of Ahwaz
town, and cynics would a+.+ribute'his efforts to con+rol other
departments to -i-he traditional Persian desire -^o make money
out of them. Provincial councils are supposed to exist but
do not, and every provincial department chief takes his orders
direct from his Ministry in ^ehran, not from the Governor-
General, Misbah Fatemy has been suspected of attempting to
make money out of a bread 'racket ' in Ahwaz town in ^.e^tember,
but it was soon discovered and whatever the truth of the
mattery may be nobody made much, '"’he Justice Department
has done very little, and done it rather badly: a fact
which it explains by the fact that no capable judical
official can be induced to come t 0 Khuzistan at all in the
summer. The police, run by Gtlonel Alborz as far as the
non-oil-bearing areas of ^he province are concerned, have
functioned satisfactorily, helped of course by our aid:
Colonel Alborz is known to be corrupt but he is also fairly
efficient and efforts t© remove him have been frustrated
the difficulty of finding anyone better, '’’he Gendarmerie tf
Khuzietan have been made independentof that of Luris+ar,
for administrative reasons. Celonel Zavush, an officer
wi+h oouth Persia Rifles experience, has been recalled to
Tehran and replaced by Sol. Mir-Findiriski, who is to raise
additional companies for protecting ^he oil fields. The
railway police have also continued to function and may have
more to $0 no w that our interest in the railway has ceased*
Various changes have taken place, in Luristan in the heals of
departments of that province, bu 4 - th e main point is that the
Lurs are kept in order by a competent ~abrizi officer, Col*
Hashime, wh* has solved a tiresome tribal squabble in t^e
Ghazanfari clan by sending *he t r ibal rivals to Tehran and
/having them