File 2818/1906 'Persia: Seistan disturbances and consular guard' [‎55v] (115/335)

Consulate as equivalent to a refusal to have dealings with us, and Would inform
xny Government accordingly. This threit appears to have frightened hwn a
little, as he immediately paid up the fine of 50 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. which had been inflicted
on the Bunjar villagers (vide diary entry for 26th June), and came to call on
tne the following day.
6 . I opened the proceedings bv telling him that I had been expecting
to see him every day since the 10th July, and that, it seemed to me, the least
he could have done was to express his regret personally. To this he replied
that he had been unwell—a statement which I know to be incorrect. I then
recapitulated the many outstanding cases of this Consulate, and asked him if
he intended to take any action, and if so, when. In the matter of the original
disturbances he replied that, without definite instructions from Tehran, he
could not punish any of the more influential ringleaders, such as Mulla
^Muhammad Taki, Mulla Muhammad Hassan, &c., but was ready to punish
certain individuals of minor importance who were present on the attack on the
dispensary* This he insisted was his final decision, and he could not deviate
a hair’s breadth from it.
7. As regards the recent disturbance, he said he was making private
enquiries, but that, although he had discovered a clue, he had not yet been able
to lay his hands on the ottenders. His suspicions rested on the village of
Gauri, a small village a short distance from the city.
I told him that it was commonly reported that the ringleaders of the
March disturbances were also at the bottom of the recent disgraceful incident,
and he acknowledged that this w^as possible, but said that no evidence was
forthcoming in support of the supposition. Finally, he expressed his willing
ness immediately to take up the other pending cases of this Consulate, and, as
regards these, I believe him to be in earnest. I have accordingly sent Fazl
Bahman out to Bala Khana to-day, as my representative, to start hearing these
cases in conjunction with him.
8 . From the above it will be clear that although he has, with consider
able difficulty, been prevailed upon to bestir himself in the minor cases, he
still maintains his attitude of aloofness in the far more important matter of
taking action against the Hussainabad rioters.
9. As I have frequently stated in my diaries, there can be very little
doubt that this reluctance is due to the fact that he is himself indirectly impli
cated, and that certain of the ringleaders of those rioters were the agents of the
local authorities in stirrring up the March disturbances against the Customs,
of whom they are extremely jealous.
Unfortunately the disturbances against the Customs reacted against our
selves, and hence the willingness of the Deputy Governor to punish the indivi
duals who were actually present at the attack on our dispensary (with whom
he is probably extremely annoyed himself), but not the real fermenters of the
riot.
10. The fact that he is ostensibly unable to discover the persons impli
cated in the incident of lOih July, corroborates my view that these were the
adherents of the ringleaders of the March disturbances.
11 . The action of the Deputy Governor in writing to Mujtahid Sheikh
Raza (vide diary entry for the 4th July) informing him that his name had
been included in the list of ringleaders by mistake and had later been with
drawn, undoubtedly had a bad effect, since, whether Sheikh Raza was really
guilty or not, it impressed on the other ringleaders that even the more influ
ential men were not entirely immune, and that the affair had not blown over
as they had thought. Shortly afterwards the new official, who has been
deputed by the Persian Government to investigate the March disturbances,
was reported to be within a few days’ march, and at the same time a rumour
was current (in which there appears to be a stratum of truth) that troops
were being moved down here from Khorasan.
12 . An access of nervousness seems to have overcome those among the
inhabitants of Hussainabad whose consciences made cowards of them, and they
probably thought the easiest method of relieving their feelings was to vent