Ext 6116/46(S) 'Secret Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries, nos 356-416, August 1946-November 1947' [‎424r] (865/978)

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found solidarity under Kerim Khan Zend about the middle of the eighteenth
century, before which time they had been an odd collection of small Turkish
tribes lacking cohesion. The Qashgai are courageous fighters, of good physique,
with a strong sense of tribal loyalty. The present ruler, Nasir Khan, was exiled
together with many other khans after the Qashgai revolt in 1934-35, but returned
to his tribe in 1942. His father, the late Saulat-ud-Dauleh, fought the South
Persia Rifles in the first World War. During the second World War the tribe
4 wa s notorious for its harbouring of German agents.
The principal sections of the tribe are the Amaleh, Kashkuli, Darrashuri,
Shishbuluki, Farsimadan and Gallehazan. The Amaleh are the personal
followers of the ‘ Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. ’ or ruler and number some 3,000 families. The
Kashkuli, approximately 3,500 families, enjoy a higher standard of living than
the other sections of the Qashgai and their women are the finest weavers of the
tribe. The Darrashuri section comprises about 5,000 families and is particularly
well-known for its horses : before Reza Shah’s day each family possessed an
average of three or four mounts. The Shishbuluki are the richest in flocks, but
a little smaller than the groups mentioned. The Farsimadan and Gallehazan are
the wildest sections of the tribe and have a bad reputation as robbers. On a
rough estimate the total strength of the tribe is probably about 18,000 families.
(c) Boir Ahmedi
The Boir Ahmedi inhabit a mountainous tract of country west of the Qashgai,
separated from them by the Kuh-i-Dina range. It would appear from tribal
tradition that they have always occupied their present territory, untouched by
the advancing and receding waves of successive civilisations. Early in the nine
teenth century the tribe split into its two main divisions, the Boir Ahmedi
Sarhadi, numbering about 7,000 families, who are migratory, and the Boir
Ahmedi Garmsiri of about 700 families, settled in a small triangular area east
of Behbehan. As a man’s success in the Boir Ahmedi depends principally on
the number of his sons, polygamy is practised to a greater extent than in other
tribes, wdth the result that families are larger : an average of seven or more per
family tent would not be excessive.
Since the fall of Reza Shah the Boir Ahmedi Sarhadi have expanded their
power and extended their influence more than any other tribe. Even in Reza
Shah’s day they defied Government interference longer than their neighbour
tribes, and when in 1930 a brigade was sent against them, they ambushed the
Government troops in the Tang-i-Tamuradi defile and inflicted over 1,000
casualties, the biggest defeat ever sustained by Reza Shah’s forces. Eventually,
owing to the intervention of Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Asad, Minister of War, at the head of a
large following of his own Bakhtiaris, the principal Boir Ahmedi chiefs were
“ persuaded ” to come to Teheran, but the tribe was never completely disarmed.
Today the Boir Ahmedi Sarhadi are universally acknowledged to be the toughest
and most ruthless fighters in Southern Persia. Their resurgence is directly
attributable to the weakness of the Government, and unless their power be
crushed, they will remain a growing menace to the security of the country.
(d) Other Tribes
Of the smaller tribes the largest is the Mamassani. They number about
5,000 families, split up into four groups, the Rustami, Javidi, Bakesh and
Fehliani. Their territory lies between Kazerun and Behbehan. In the summer
the Javidi and some of the Rustami and Bakesh migrate north-east into the
higher Qashgai valleys. The Mamassani are unlike the other Lurs in appearance.
Their proud bearing and handsome features have been described as of the ancient
Iranian type, which has been preserved with but scanty admixture of Arab and
other invading elements. Hussein Quli Rustam is now the acknowledged leader
of the Mamassani. He would have been quite willing to co-operate with the
Government, not out of patriotism but through fear of Qashgai and Boir Ahmedi
rivalry, had he not been antagonised by their refusal to return more than a third
of the khans’ lands. Nasir Khan' Qashgai has for long been anxious to
incorporate the Mamassani in a southern tribal bloc subservient to him.
The Doshmanziari, whose territory is south of the Mamassani, were at one
time a sub-tribe of the latter. They are a settled community of relatively law-
abiding cultivators, amounting to some 1,580 families. They are usually at
enmity with the Boir Abmedi, envying their crops and cattle.
The Bahmai are, next to the Boir Ahmedi Sarhadi, the least law-abiding
of the southern tribes, and might well create trouble in the Haft Kel and Agha
[32590] b 2