Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎88r] (176/669)

Rprept Cha**!^ on the groundp that he had entered Iran without
authority* The Gendarmerie are reported to have firea a rew phGts*
woundone of Chapsi^ 1 ! 5 men, and, on peeing the * 12 $ of the
-heikh'i fallowing, to have retired. Eventually, at the request
of the Grvernor-General an% Iranian member of the Consulate-General
staff went out to bring Chassih to see the Governor-General «r. safe
conduct. Chassib, however, made pretexts for not coming in and en
31th Mav H.M. Vice-Consul went t« see him and eventually brought
hi m ir ' sheikh Chassib apparently had a somewhat heated interview
with the Governor-General at which the rather unsatisfactory agree-
msnt was reached that Chassib should return to Qajariyeh and show
to'hi= following that he was safe and try to prevail upon them to
disperse, and then return to Ahwaz the next day and stay here to
reurepont hi« grievances against the Iranian Government* He would jih:
then have been a continual thorn in the side of the lo^a^ Iranian
authorities who have n® force available here with which Jo impoee
their will on him and his followers» Moreover the population of
Ahwaz was in pome perturbation at the presence of an A.ra: force eo
near while Arab cultivators were showing signs of non-$coperati®n
in the government collection of grain, nheikh Chassib after hie
| interview with the Governor-General visited H.M. Consul-General
and after l@ng discussions eventually agreed to return to Basra.
He accordingly v/ent to KhorraniBhahr ©n 11th May and finally arrived
in Basra on 13th May,
H.M* Vice-Consul in the course of convera&tier. with ^heiitf
Chassis at Qajariyeh gained the impression thao the ^he3ch
ted tc find KMzistan in the hands of the Bakhtiaris or in a state
of anarchy - such are the exaggerated rumours that follaw any event
such as the capture of Izeh in this part of the wrld, similarly
sheikh 'Jhassib' e foliwing was desoribed in Ahwaz as c^reistmg ar
4 ? 000 armed men whose tents could be plainly seen, ^.he ?amps were
American but the spirits of the uneducated classes in Alwaz fell
very lm a
(15) The Beni Turuf, profiting by the Iranian forces’ P^«occo-
patietts with the "Bakhtiari" situation and ©ore recently with «neik;
Chnssi:’s incursion, are not coming forward to surrender their arms
Although they may regret their dilatoriness when sarhanj Humayunl r
hands s re again free, they showed considerable acumen u. not throw
in their l®t with sheikh Chassih; in spite of Chassib's ^•asts
that ‘he Beni Turuf were with him, not a single Beni Turuf q neikh
wag noticed at Qajariyeh.
(BcU A. E. H. MAGANA.
H,M 0 CON^UL-GKNERAI*
15 th May 1M3