File 1880/1904 Pt 2 'Perso-Afghan Frontier: - The Undemarcated portion. Afghan encroachments.' [‎62v] (129/240)

When this grant was made, objection was raised by the Salaris of Neh,
the old ruling family of this buluk, on the ground that they held documents
(Mahr-namas) proving them to be the owners of Asperan as well as of Surtigh,
Khoja do Chahi and other Jcarezes in the Duroh-Lahnu district. Their claim
as regards Asperan seems to have been accepted, as they executed a deed mak
ing over their rights to the Shaukat-ul* Mulk as pish hash. (There were other
points regarding the Neh revenue settled at the same time.) The man Ali,
who had been evicted, was given in exchange another property in the Duroh
district called Mahi End and he executed a formal agreement accepting the
exchange. Katkhuda Hamza and Ali Morad do not seem to have put in a
claim. Khoja Jan Muhammad of Duroh raised an objection to Asperan being
given to Said Khan, as he claimed Asperan as his private property. His claim
was rejected as he could bring forward no evidence, while the salaries claim
had been held to be good.
; When M. Miller was Eussian Consul in Sistan, it is said that he made
endeavours to purchase Asperan from the Naib of Duroh. Jan Muhammad
had at that time been temporarily deprived of the Naibship and owing to that
it is said negotiations fell through.
I have not myself seen the Salaris 5 documents referred to above.
Their rights to Asperan are, it may be mentioned, altogether denied by
the Durohis, especially those known as Mulla Alis. This community say they
are Baluch that came from Hamadan in ancient times. The head of the com
munity, Bahran, showed me a sanad of Shah Abbas Saffavi, confirming one
Mulla Ali Shah in the Katkhudaship of Duroh, with which he contends the
other hamlets are included. He also holds another sanad to the same effect,
alleged to be from Eatteh Ali Shah—but of this the seal has been torn off.
The right of the Mulla Alis to this sanad is not uncontested. The Akhimd
family of Duroh state that the Mulla Ali Shah to whom the Shah Abbas sanad
was addressed was an ancestor of theirs and that the <s Mulla Alis 55 stole it
from them.
In the present year, Said Khan’s title has been confirmed by the Hissam-
u-Douleh.
f
There are two karezes now open at Asperan, the produce being about 20
Tabriz kharwars of wheat.
According to the Naib of Duroh and all others whom I have spoken to on
the subject, the old political frontier was the Harut Eud. Force of circum
stances has caused the abandonment of this line by the Persians and the Koh-i-
Atashkhana is now considered the frontier.
Until the country between the Koh-i-Atashkhana and the terminal pillar
of the Sistan boundary comes to be surveyed it is difficult to say where a line
joining these points would fall as regards Asperan. I think it is clear however
that so far as our present knowledge goes, the latter place must be considered
Persian.
A fairly reliable authority told me that Chah Eeg is in Persian limits and
Sherak-i-Shah Beg on the Asp eran-Sistan road on the frontier.
As regards grazing rights, the information given by Captain Keyes in his
note of 1st May 1906 has been generally corroborated by my informants.
Where rights are undefined however, as they are in the present case, exact
agreement in details cannot be expected.
According to my informants, even in old days when the Harut was consi
dered the frontier, Afghan maldars had prescriptive grazing rights beyond this
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