'Report on Sistan and the Country Between It and Mashad' [‎7r] (18/118)

It is, moreover, to be well understood that no works are to be carried
out on either side calculated to interfere with the requisite supply of water
for irrigation on both banks of the Helmund”
The same year, a few months after the departure of the Commission,
For further detail, see fhe Sistanis broke out in rebellion against the domineer-
C /?«79 Napier ’ s Reporfc in S cllie£ Kain, and shut him up in Nasirabad on the
ofl872 - 21st December.
His chief enemies were Ibrahim Khan of Chakansur, Ahmed Khan of
Lash Juwain, Sharif Khan Nahroe, Kamal Khan of Bandar, and Malik
Abbas Khan, Cayani.
The tribes against him were the Saniurani, Cayani. Shahreki, Nahroe
and Sarbandi. *
In February 1873 he was relieved by a force from Mashad. He was
however, recalled from Sistan, and a Persian entitled the Simsam-ul-Mulk
was made Governor.
During his brief reign, a Persian official was sent to demarcate the
frontier as laid down by Colonel Goldsmid in concert with an Afghan deputy;
but, acting perhaps on secret instructions from Tehran, the Simsam-ul-
Mulk obstructed the proceedings, and finally dismissed the officers on the fol
lowing objections .
1st. —The Afghans are able to cut off the water.
2nd .—People will emigrate to the Afghan side.
3rd. —The loss of the Tarakun grazing lands.
4th. —The loss of the greater partof the Naizar.
As Captain Napier remarks : “ The Persians, therefore, refused to accept
the arbitration ; the boundary line, although known, was not declared to the
people and not respected. However, the Persians abandoned the Tarakun
lands and Bandar Kamal Khan, but managed to secure revenue from a num-
ber of villages on the Afghan side, some of which belonged to Sharif Khan
End. Ibrahim Khan, both ©nemics of the Govornor of Sistan.^
The Simsam-ul-Mulk soon quarrelled with Sharif Khan. A complaint
was made to Tehran that he wished to keep the rebellion open for purposes
° Q \ P 1 !™* and hQ was recalled, but not before he had succeeded in beating
c*rir Khan and his ally Ibrahim Khan, who fled to Chakansur, leaving his
villages on the Persian side to be confiscated.
In December 1873 one Muhammad Jafar Khan was appointed Governor
but was recalled in July 1874, and in December Mir Alum Khan was rein
stated.
In March 1875 a deputation of Sistanis went to Tehran to protest but
without avail, and Mir Alum Khan continued in power until his death.
During his rule the objections of the Persians to the award were made
known to the British Government, and various attempts were made from time
to time by Persia to reopen the question.
In 1882 the Persians falsely complained that the Afghans had drawn off
the water at Bandar, and that in consequence their land was lyin? waste and
the population was dwindling ; and in 1884 the Amir of Afghanistan com-
plained that the Persians refused to evacuate land north of the Naizar, which
led to a request from the Shah that this clause might be reconsidered ; but the
V iceroy ot India has always strongly deprecated any change, and indeed