Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎332r] (664/669)

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stopping hostilities. He then came down to Ahwaz a*d saw
the Consul-General, together with a e©mpanioi4 named Abdur-
Reza Bakhtiar, cousin of Ahul-Qasim, and therefore a member
of the Ha.ji Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. family. They sought to obtain our agree
ment t@ a plan for the future government of the tribe whieh
Wfuld in effect make Jehanshah governor of the tribe, re
presenting the Ilkhanis, and Abdur-Reza his assistant, re
presenting the rival Haji Ilkhanis. They then went back
hoping to persuade both Morteza iuli Khan and Amir Bahman to
agree to this proposal: they were accompanied by Col.
A;fshar-oghl©u commanding the Khuzistan division, wh$ seerrvs
to have a good deal of influence with the Bakhtiaris, ani
to have been instrumental in getting an agreement drawn Up
on the lines mentioned and submitted formally to Tehran for
approval. It is to be hoped that some such agreement will be
accepted, though as long as the impetuous and crazy Abul-
Qasim isin the tribal country it is unlikely that quiet will
prevail. Jehanshah and Abdux Reza both seemed to recognise
that Morteza Quli Khan was very unpopular with a large pcrtitn
Of the tribe: and they acknowledged that the truth #f the
matter was that one family, the Ilkhanis, had been getting
the pickings for too long, so that it was high time the
other family had a share. Col*Afshar-oghlou succeeded in
inducing Abul-Qasim to send eloquent telegrams to the Majlis,
ihe Prime Minister, and many newspapers expressing their
loathing of the foreign intervention in Azerbaijan and de
claring their readiness to shed their last drop of blood for
jche fatherland.
LURISTAN.
( 6 ). The state of Luristan has been quiet: a new
police post is being opened at Dorud, and the dumps, mostly
American, are being disposed of and taken away as transport
is found. The recent rains have caused wash-outs on the main
asphalted road from Andimeshk to Khorramabad and Burujird,
but no workers have been seen repairing them.
(7). The forthcoming elections for provincial councils
have given rise to a good deal of speculation and activity.
On the 28th Deoember a meeting took place by invitation of a
merchant named Abdullah Ateshkadi and attended by about 80
notables and traders. The ©bjects were to establish what
ttosy called a non-political party to secure the election of
reliable persons on the provincial council who might re
present the true interests of tne people of the province,
and incidentally to get their own back from certain officials
who had been oppressing them. The resulting party teok the
name of '’Hizb-i-Sa’adat” and sent a telegram to Tehran.
Whatever the intentions of the founders were the existence
of such a party has inevitably provoked opposition from rival
merchants and political opponents, especially the members of
the shadowy ' l Adalat' f party. The Governor-General for a long
time v/as without instructions as to how to conduct the
elections, but he is understood to have received 50,000
voting papers and instructions as to who should receive them.
The final result is to be a High Provincial Council at Ahwaz
of twelve elected members, with Provincial Councils in the
bigger towns (no doubt Abadan,Khorramshahr,Behbehan,Dizful,
dhushtar,Khorramabad, and Burujird) of six members each,
each one sending one representative to the High Provincial
Council. Misbah-Patemy is not optimistic about the advan
tages of having such a body of local advisers: he thinks
they will merely form an obstructive and intractable body of
wire-pullers and job-seekers, exploiting to the full the
Persian genius for disagreement.