"تقرير الإدارة عن المقيمية السياسية في الخليج الفارسي للأعوام ١٩١٥-١٩١٩" [و‎‎١‎٥] (٣٩٦/٣٦)

FOR THE YEAH 1915.
19
Political Histoky.
The Governor General started off early in the year for a tour tlirough the
District His main object was certainly sport though, no doubt, he expected
the tour to be profitable as well: he is a spendthrift and very fond of money,
but, for a Persian Governor, he is a moderate in the way of extortion. He
planned his tour to ta^e him round by Bam and Jimft to Aqta and Afshar
and back to Kerman He halted short of Bam and the Khans of Bam and
Narmashir came out to his camp and paid their respects to him there. He went
on through Jiruft and, though it looked at first as if there was going to be
a difficulty with the Zargham-i-Nizam, the latter listened to the advice of His
Britannic Majesty's Consul, and went to meet him with proper respect. The
Governor-General received him well and confirmed him in the Governorship
of Rudbar.
Unfortunately, before the camp got beyond the confines of Budbar, some
Bakhtiaris, who entered a Rudbar village, were fired on and, in a fit of temper,
the Governor-General allowed his men to make reprisals. This upset the
Zaruham and he threatened to loot caravans coming up the Jiruft road.
However, on the representations of His Britannic Majesty's Consul, the
Governor-General soothed down the Zargham and the latter superseded his
threatening letters by one promising to safeguard the road as before. When
the Governor-General got to the end of Jiruft and began to enter the Aqta-
Afshar country he was met by a hostile gathering of the tribes who refused to
allow him to march through their country. He was attacked by their advan
ced posts on the border but, the Bakhtiaris drove them in and, after demoli
shing a few village towers, his force advanced to Urzu and encamped there.
Husain Khan, Bukagchi, who had joined the Governor-General, ostensibly in
loyal obedience, but really, simply to spy on him, here decamped and went
over openly to the enemy. The Governor-General was hung up here for some
time and began to find himself in a difficult position. His force had about
cleared out the District behind it, he was cut off from supplies from Kerman
and the country immediately around him could provide practically nothing in
the way of provisions. He was in a hurry to return to Kerman, before the
arrival of the German officer^, whose advance agent had already reached
Kerman. He was himself ready to buy off the tribesmen, but was luckily put
off by the Sirdar-i-JNTasrat and by the extravagant demands put forward by
Gunj Ali Khan at the instigation of the Democrats in Kern an, Eortunately
the tribes themselves solved his difficulties for him by attacking his position •
and being badly beaten by the Bakhtiaris. Gunj' Ali Khan was captured,
and Husain Khan only escaped with a handful of men, and was rounded up
without much difficulty. The combination of the tribes was completely
broken up and the Governor-General returned in triumph with his captives to
Kerman. The whole Kerman District and the Baluchis were, of course, in
tently watching the trial of strength between the Bakhtiaris and the other
tribesmen and the complete victory of the Bakhtiaris put the whole province
into a state of order and quietude, which it had not known for years. This
lasted until the time the Consulate was closed in all the districts except
Jiruft and a corner of Budbar so that a separate review of each is unnecessary.
Jiruft and lludbar unfortunately suffered from an incursion of Baluchis
in October and November and two large caravans of carpets going to Bandar
Abbas were looted by them. The Baluchis were undoubtedly incited^by German
Agents and \^ere satisfied that the Governor-General was too occupied by the
Germans in Kerman to detach any force against them, but even so they left
Narmashir alone and only attacked Jiruft which had no Bakhtiaris in it.
The first half of the year in the Kerman city was not marked by any
Kerman City. event of importance. Prices were high
/ and trade was dislocated, but people had
got ^ used to the new state of affairs The Governor-General left, in the early
Spring, to tour through the Districts and the Kermanis waited with interest
to see how his visit would be taken in Eudbar by the Zargham. who had a
strong inclination towards repudiating the authority of the Governor -General
and in Aqta-Afshar by Gunj Ali Khan into whose district no official had
entered for some years except by special permission. None of the Kermanis