خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [ظ‎‎٢‎٩] (٢٤٨/٥٨)

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to improve the condition of the tribes, has also refrained from annoying them by
ill-timed military ventures.
64. Fars. —The continued presence of the Qavam ul Mulk in Shiraz and his
opposition to the Tudeh party has kept alive the attacks in the Soviet-inspired
press against the tribal bloc and the danger to the Central Government which is
implied therein, and also against the sinister designs of British imperialism in
the south. Nasir Khan Qashgai made some efforts to increase his influence in
Kuh-i-galu but met with little success. There is some prospect of his coming to
Tehran to see the Shah and thus put an end to his equivocal position.
65. Kuh-i-galu. —-The long-drawn-out quarrel between Abdullah Khan
Zarghampur and his half-brother, as also the lawless activities of Abdullah
himself, seem, temporarily, at least, to have been settled by his making his formal
submission to government. The Persian Government has not given him a formal
pardon, but some sort of assurance that his past sins would be overlooked.
66. Khuzistan. —General Humayuni has completed his disarmament
operations against the Arabs. A high estimate puts the number of rifles collected
at 5,000. Most of the rifles handed in were obsolete patterns and some of great
antiquity. Complaints have been made by the tribes that they have been placed
in a dangerous situation vis-a-vis their Iraqi neighbours and other Persian tribes
who have retained their arms. Such complaints will persist until the Persian
Government can, as in Raza Shah’s days, guarantee them from attack by their
neighbours. The Persian Government is also placed in a difficult position in that
it has not the requisite force at its command to tackle the problem in the right
sequence, by disarming the more powerful tribes first, but must start on the weaker
tribes.
67. Bakhtiari .—-Murteza Quli Khan continues to preserve order though
naturally incurring the odium of the other branch of his tribe who see the plums
of office going to his relatives and their influence waning. The proposed
operations against the Bahmai and Tayyebi tribes were postponed. Murteza
Quli Khan had asked, in return for the provision of tribal infantry and cavalry,
more than the Government were prepared to give or could afford to give. General
Humayuni also advised against the operations on account of the lateness of the
season and the impending upward migration of the tribes to areas inaccessible
to his troops.
68. The murderers of Mr. Vice-Consul Harris and Dr. Griffiths (who were
killed in the Bakhtiari country in 1942) still remain at large, and the Persian
Government has taken no steps to effect their capture.
69. Kurdistan. —The tribes of Southern Kurdistan have remained quiet.
The fifteen Rogzadeh Jaf tribesmen have been set free at last and have returned
to Iraq. No acts of brigandage have occurred to constitute a serious menace to
the lines of communication of His Majesty’s forces. In Northern Kurdistan the
situation is not so satisfactory. The extent to which Soviet influence has
dominated the Kurds, the degree of adherence of the Kurds to Tudeh politics and
the distance to which Kurds would be prepared to go in active support of
separationist movement in Azerbaijan are not accurately known, and are
probably exaggerated by the wealthy burgesses of Tabriz who fear for their
skins when the Russians depart. A skirmish took place at Rezaieh, in which a
Persian major was killed, and in an affray at Mahabad five policemen were
killed. The General Staff promptly assembled a mixed column from Saqqiz to
proceed to Mahabad, but the Soviet commander stopped them at Bukan and
turned them back. The question has since been taken up on a diplomatic level
but, up to the time of writing, the Russians persist in their refusal to admit this
column and maintain that any garrison required at Mahabad should come from
Tabriz, be limited to a battalion of infantry and not replaced in Tabriz.
Persian Forces.
70. —{a) The Army (including the United States Military Mission ).—During
the first quarter of 1945 there have been no changes in the posts of Minister for
War or Chief of the General Staff, though Ibrahim Zand has been prevented by ill-
health from attendance at the ministry since mid-March. There have been many
changes in the senior appointments. A new head of the Military Tribunal and a
new Public Prosecutor have been appointed. It is to be hoped that their
reputed honesty and energy will enable some of the more flagrant cases of
corruption to be dealt with. A new deputy Chief of the General Staff, a new
Departmental Director and a new Director of Transport have been appointed.
A divisional commander has been deprived of his command and summoned to
Tehran to answer charges of corruption. A brigade commander has also been
changed for the same alleged reason. While General Arfa’s reforming zeal merits