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'Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan' [193v] (4/12)
The record is made up of 1 file (6 folios). It was created in 24 May 1885. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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To Kazi Saad ud-din Khan, dated Tirpul, 26th March 1885.
I have received your letter of the 23rd March, bringing to my notice that
the Persian authorities have lately taken steps to colonize Hashtadan, a place
near Kuhsan, and which you say belongs to the Governor of Herat.
As Colonel Stewart and other British officers are now in the neighbourhood,
I beg to inform you that the matter will be inquired into as far as
practicable. (Signed) P. S. Lumsden, Lieutenant-General.
No. 3.
Telegram from Sir Ronald Thomson to Sir Peter Lumsden, No. 42,
dated 2nd April 1885.
Governor General, Khorassan, has been instructed by Shah to send officer
to you with explanations as to Hashtadan.
No. 4.
Prom Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to Sir Ronald Thomson.
A. C.—With regard to the land of Hashtadan-i-Jan and Bakharz, I have
the honour to state that I informed His Majesty of what your Excellency
said. His Majesty said that those lands belonged, and still belong, to the
Jam district, and were never included in Afghanistan, but that on account
of want of safety in those parts, they remained uncultivated for some time.
As your Excellency is now writing to Sir Peter Lumsden, he will obtain
information and send it to you.
With regard to the “kanats,” I have to state that, even if the chain of
the wells extends to Afghan territory, you are well aware that it is possible
for a chain of wells of a kanat to extend from one country to another. In
some cases a kanat extends to 10 farsaks.
Asaf-ud-daula has also been informed of the above.
Of course your Excellency will write to Sir Peter Lurasden and order that
no one should interfere, and for information to be sent to you.
No. 5.
From W. R. Merk, Esq., C.S., to Sir Peter Lumsden, dated Hashtadan,
16th April 1885.
I have the honour to report that I arrived here this afternoon. The
Persians have been constructing new karezes for some weeks past, with a
view to the cultivation of the Hashtadan plain. On the 12th April,
20 khassadars, under Jabber Beg, arrived here under orders from the
Governor of Herat to stop work at the karezes, but to avoid a collision.
Yesterday the Persian Deputy Governor of Karez and the agent of the
promoters at Mashad of the scheme for cultivating Hashtadan arrived here
with some 30 Persian sowars. Both Afghans and ^ Asians are located in a
ruined enclosure called Kila Kulukh Pardai, close to the old castle of
Hashtadan. 1 have arranged with the Afghans and Persians that both sides
are to withdraw to-morrow morning to Kuhsan and Karez respectively;
that the Persians may leave two men at Hashtadan to take care of wind
lasses, &c., which are too heavy to move at once; and finally that neither
About this item
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This file concerns the disputed Hashtadan lands, on the Perso-Afghan frontier. It begins with a confidential letter, dated 24 May 1885, from Colonel Joseph West Ridgeway, Assistant Commissioner in charge, Afghan Boundary Commission, Camp Sinjao, to Earl Granville [Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville], Foreign Secretary, London.
In his letter, Ridgeway summarises the current dispute, which began in March 1885, when the Persian authorities took steps to cultivate the disputed land, which had reportedly remained uncultivated for two generations. Ridgeway reports that on 12 April the Afghans responded by sending twenty irregular infantry with orders to stop the work. On 15 April, the Governor of Karaz (also spelled in the file as 'Karez') [Kārīz, Iran] arrived at Hashtadan with thirty Persian troopers. Ridgeway states that the matter was only temporarily resolved by William Rudolph Henry Merk, political officer on special duty with the Afghan boundary commission, who arranged that, pending inquiry, the Afghans should retire to Kafir Kala [Islām Qal‘ah, Afghanistan] and the Persians to Karaz.
Ridgeway includes with his letter a series of enclosures which document the ongoing dispute. The enclosures are as follows:
- No. 1 Letter from Kazi Saad-ud-din Khan, agent of Abdur Rahman Khan, Amir [Emir] of Afghanistan, to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, member of the Council of India and Afghan boundary commissioner, dated 23 March 1885
- No. 2 Letter from Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, Tirpul [Tir Pol, Afghanistan], to Kazi Saad-ud-din Khan, dated 26 March 1885
- No. 3 Telegram from Sir Ronald Ferguson Thomson, Her Britannic Majesty's Minister, Teheran [Tehran], to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, no. 42, dated 2 April 1885
- No. 4 Letter from the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs (unnamed) to Sir Ronald Ferguson Thomson (no date)
- No. 5 Letter from William Rudolph Henry Merk, Hashtadan, to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, dated 16 April 1885
- No. 6 Letter from Sir Peter Stark Lumsden to Kazi Saad-ud-din Khan, dated 17 April 1885
- No. 7 Letter from Kazi Saad-ud-din Khan to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, dated 18 April 1885
- No. 8 Letter from William Rudolph Henry Merk to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, dated 27 April 1885
- No. 9 Letter from William Rudolph Henry Merk to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, dated 1 May 1885
- No. 10 Telegram from Sir Peter Stark Lumsden to Sir Ronald Ferguson Thomson, dated 2 May 1885
- No. 11 Letter from Sir Peter Stark Lumsden to the Governor General of Khorassan [Khorasan], dated 2 May 1885
- No. 12 Letter from the Governor General of Khorassan to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, dated 5 May 1885
- No. 13 Extract from a report of Khan Baba Khan, Native Agent Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government. , to Colonel Joseph West Ridgeway, Assistant Commissioner in charge, Afghan Boundary Commission, dated 6 May 1885
- No. 14 Telegram from Sir Ronald Ferguson Thomson to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, dated 7 May 1885
- No. 15 Extract from a demi-official letter from Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, Mashad [Mashhad], to Colonel Joseph West Ridgeway, dated 11 May 1885
- No. 16 Telegram from Colonel Joseph West Ridgeway to the Government of India, no. 549, dated 13 May 1885
- No. 17 Telegram from Colonel Joseph West Ridgeway to the Government of India, no. 557, dated 14 May 1885
- No. 18 Letter from Captain Albert Frederick de Laessoe to Colonel Joseph West Ridgeway, dated 22 May 1885
In his letter Ridgeway makes special reference to the final enclosure, Captain Albert Frederick de Laessoe's letter, which concludes in favour of the Persian claim. Ridgeway suggests that, if possible, the matter regarding Hashtadan should be deferred until the question of the Perso-Afghan frontier can be resolved outright, preferably by one officer.
It should be noted that the list of enclosures which follows Ridgeway's letter incorrectly states that item no. 10 is from Sir Ronald Ferguson Thomson to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, whereas in fact the telegram is from Lumsden to Thomson.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (6 folios)
- Arrangement
Following the opening letter, the enclosures proceed in chronological order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence for this description commences at f 192, and terminates at f 197, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 5-206; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.
Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan' [193v] (4/12), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/C49, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026567106.0x000005> [accessed 19 April 2024]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/C49
- Title
- 'Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan'
- Pages
- 192r:197v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence