!['Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan' [‎195r] (7/12)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000833.0x000086/IOR_L_PS_18_C49_0007.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan' [‎195r] (7/12)")
'Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan' [195r] (7/12)
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
neotion with Turcoman raids), at a meeting of Afghan and Persian
officials; the Cabul Government being represented by Shaghassi
Samad Ali Khan, Governor of Ghorian, and Mahomed Sarwar Khan,
Hakim of Kuhsan; and the Persians by Mir Masum Khan
Shaghassi, deputed by the Governor of Khorassan.
(2.) That when, during the governorship at Herat of
Sirdar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Muhammad
Umar Khan, and about one or one and a half years after this tract
had thus been declared to be Afghan territory, Yusuf Khan Hazara
(a Persian subject) commenced to dig a karez at Hashtadan, he
desisted at once from his project on being prohibited by the Afghan
authorities. '
The Afghans who accompanied me to Hashtadan, Naib Muhamad Alam
Khan, brother of the Sarwar Khan mentioned above, Naib Khudadad Khan
Kuhsani, Nauroz Mirgan Kuhsani, Islam Kuhsani, and others, informed me
that in former days the old
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
at Dogaru was the point at which
the Persian and Afghan escorts of travellers made over or received charge,
and where the border patrols were in the habit of meeting.
In wet weather, when the direct road was abandoned for the Killa Darband
route, the Dahana Sanjiti or Killa Darband itself, as might be most com
venient, was the place at which caravans changed escorts, and up to which
Afghan sowars patrolled. They also said that Afghan outposts visited the
Shorao basin, including Hashtadan, but I doubt this strongly.
6. I would add that the country west of the Koh Charag range is
admittedly Persian territory; that the Koh Yalkhar is claimed and occupied
by the Afghans,* who state that the frontier is at the Chah Surkh Kotal;
and, lastly, that if this Persian claim is approved, and the Shorao basin falls
into Persian hands, a wedge of Persian territory will be pushed to within
15 miles of Shabash and 20 milus of Ghorian, separating Kuhsan from
Yalkhar and the environs of Ghorian. As the strip of waste country, from
20 to 50 miles in width, which divides Western Afghanistan from Eastern
Persia, is gradually being reoccupied, now that Turcoman raids are a thing
of the past, similar boundary quarrels seem likely to crop up in the border
lands south of the Sharao basin; and without a knowledge of the general
alignment of the frontier in that direction, it appears difficult to judge of the
effect that the transfer of the whole basin to one Power or the other would
have as regards the intrusion of Persian territory into Afghan, or vice versd.
But the effect of the occupation of the Persians of the whole basin (I under
stand that they claim it up to Dahana Sharao) with regard to Ghorian and
the left bank of the Heri Bud is clear.
Possibly a boundary drawn from Dahana Sanjiti to and including the
Kulukh Pardi mound, thence to the northern extremity of the Koh Chareg,
and along its watershed up to the Chah Surkh Kotal, might sufficiently meet
the requirements of the case and the claims of both parties.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) W. Merk, Political Officer.
No. 9.
%
From W. Merk, Esq., to Sir Peter Lumsden, dr^d 1st May 1885.
Sir,
In connection with my report, dated the 27th April 1885, regarding
the Perso-Afghan 'boundary dispute at Hashtadan, I have the honour to
submit, as bearing on the question, the following extract of M. Lessar’s
account of his journey from Ghorian via Khaf to Mashad, given at page 244
of Marvin’s “ The Russians at Merv and Herat.” M. Lessar appears to have
travelled by the direct route from Ghorian to Chashma Dozan, and thence
across the Shorao basin to Karat. He says :—“ In the broad valley lying
“ beyond (evidently a spur of the Chasma Dozan hills) were numerous traces of
* Shepherds from Ghorian have pitched their tents at Chah Surkh and Rabat Turk,
About this item
- Content
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan' [195r] (7/12), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/C49, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026567106.0x000008> [accessed 6 May 2024]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100026567106.0x000008
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100026567106.0x000008">'Perso-Afghan frontier. Report on Hashtadan' [‎195r] (7/12)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100026567106.0x000008"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000833.0x000086/IOR_L_PS_18_C49_0007.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000833.0x000086/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- 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