"تقرير الإدارة عن المقيمية السياسية في الخليج الفارسي للأعوام ١٩١٥-١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎٨] (٣٩٦/٢٦٣)

22 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULP POLITICAL EESIDENCT
uesuccessful attempts to organize basts at the Telegraph Office in fay
of the Prince, the extremists decided to send a <e deputation " to Tehran io co^
plain against the f< atrocities and aggressions " of the British and the insecuri?"
of life and property caused by the Sardar's defiance of the Prince Governor^
authority. Financed partly by Ihtisham-ud-Douleh and partly by means f
the heavy blackmail paid them by the Sardar himself, some thirteen of th
more mischievous and irresponsible of the Kerman agitators, headed by Mir 6
Shahhab, brother of Agha Saiyid Jawad, went to Tehran in two or three parfe
and Kerman enjoyed for several months a peace to which it had long been
unaccustomed.
The complaints of this "delegation" to~the Anglophobe Cabinet of
Mustaufi-ul-Mamalik, together with the discomfited Prince's use of his
intluence with the Shah, caused a certain amount of anxiety during the sprin"
but had no very serious results. The Sardar was once more summoned to
Tehran and once more refused to go. In June, again, garblfd versions of the
Allied reverses in France, of the Turkish advance in Azerbaijan and above all
of the "investment" of Shiraa bv the Qashgais caused considerable excitement
in the town which the Democrats energetically fostered. The prospects of the
Kerman South Persia Rifles following the example of their comrades in Fars
were freely discussed. It was perhaps as well that the entire Brigade was
kept in cholera quarantine camp throughout June, July and August, for it was
thus effectively preserved from the influence of seditious propaganda. His
Majesty's Consul with the assistance of the Officer Commanding, South Persia
Eifles, and the Telegraph authorities, exercised an unofficial censorship over
both the British and Persian telegraph offices, thereby preventing any wide
spread knowledge of the seriousness of the situation elsewhere. The decidedly
Anglophil attitude of Hishmat-ud-Douleh when he arrived at the beginning of
July, and his action in taking security at His Majesty's Consul's request from
six of the worst agitators, temporarily silenced the Democrats. The "Delega
tion " also began to trickle back from Tehran, thoroughly disillusioned by the
reception and treatment they hnd been accorded at Tehran; instead of being
letecl and garlanded as they had expected, little attention and not much
pecuniary assistance was given them : in fact, they only stayed as long as they
did (until August) because they could not collect enough money to pay for
their return journey.
The catastrophic charges which took place in the Turkinh Empire and in
Europe during the autumn were'of course serious blows to the Democrat cause,
Elect;ons and little more would probably have been
heard of the party at Kerman during the
year, had it not been for the necessity of preparing for the elections. These
were ordered by TV usuq-ud-Douleh soon after his accession to power in August,
in the hope of strengthening his own position vis-a-vis the Shah and the
extremists. In a remote and comparatively quiet province such as Kerman,
nobody but the Democrats wants elections, which merely trouble the waters for
agitators and w irepullers to fish in ; least of all does the Governor- General
desire them, lor obviously the system of popular representation is quite income
patible with that of autocratic provincial Governors, who have everything to
lose and nothing to gain by the presence at Tehran ot irresponsible Deputies
iom their provinces. The Muharram holidays, followed by the influenza
epidemic, furnished valid enough excuses for delay, and during the last five
months of the year all that was officially done was to appoint the Election
Committee. The Democrats however were very busy holding frequent meet
ing's and perpetually bombarding the Governor-General, whose weakness they
nad early discovered. The selection of Asaf -ul -Mamalik, Mukhtar-ul-Mulk
an g a Yahya to sit on the Election Committee, the only three other mem-
)eis appointed being harmless non-partisans, was a great triumph for the
democrats, as the result of the elections is held (no doubt correctly) to
epen argely on the political sympathies of the Committee. His Majestys
^ u P r i Ta tely to the Governor-General against the nomination
rw!i ai ^i lk aiKi ^ ha Yah y a > on the grounds that they were
Ap-Vm' v 0 ? Can 1 l a ^ e f ^ 0r e ^ ec tion : HLh mat -ud-Douleh consented to remoy e
- o anya 3 but absolutely lefused to do the same to Asaf -ul-MamaliK