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File 348/1913 Pt 2 'Persia: Kerman affairs' [‎114r] (232/284)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (138 folios). It was created in 15 Nov 1913-1 Jan 1915. 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. .

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property into his own pockets without producing any permanent amelioration of the
situation.
I therefore abstained from pressing the authorities for the recovery of compen
sation for the goods carried off at Marghak and Sarvistan, and even declined to interest
^nyself in trying to bring about a Baluchistan expedition for which the Amir Mufakh-
kham was very insistent.
His tour round the home districts had been a political necessity in order to
re-establish the prestige of the Government in the parts of the country crossed by our
trade routes, and on which the prosperity of Kerman is immediately dependent, but
the same immediate necessity did not exist in the case of Baluchistan.
7. Nevertheless, the settlement of the Baluchi question is necessary, and it should
he made of a permanent nature. The Baluch have been trying their strength, notably
during the present year, and that they have the strength not only to sack Bam as well
as the surrounding^districts, but also to make the western and hitherto safer route to
Bunder Abbas via Deh Bakri impossible, and to loot Rawar, and even Kerman
itself, during the absence of a Governor with a strong following like that of the Amir
Mufakhkham, is beyond question. The only thing lacking so far is initiative and
audacity.
8. It will be argued that the gendarmerie will be able to protect the Deh Bakri or
any other route selected, and to guarantee the safety of Kerman city. This may be so
in the course of time, but it is certainly beyond their power at present. To guarantee
the safety of the road from Kerman to Deh Bakri, some 120 miles, on which the Baluch
can at any time bring their full strength to bear, will require a large force. Prestige,
when acquired, will reduce the force necessary, but the gendarmes have still their
name to make, and any set-back or disaster will have a most damaging effect. The
maintenance of a large force specially to counter the Baluch menace will in the long
run be uneconomical. As regards Kerman, the presence of more than a gendarmerie
depot in the city itself would be wasteful and inexpedient
9. It therefore seems to me that the Baluch evil should be attacked more directly
and nearer the root. One step to this end would be the location of a cordon of
Persian troops on the east frontier of Bam, and perhaps of Narmashir. As a move
in this direction, I recommended earlier in the year that financial provision be made
for the maintenance of a small mounted force by the Governor of Bam {vide my
telegram No. 39/127, dated the 19th July, 1913). This was done, but it was only
a trifling measure, whose chief value lay in its possible moral effect.
In any case defensive measures, taken only to avoid offensive ones, are usually
found in the long run to be expensive and unsatisfactory. Witness our policy on the
north western frontier of India during the lift} 7 years preceding the revision of methods
introduced by Lord Curzon.
10. I am therefore of opinion that the Baluchistan problem should be tackled by
measures of- offence. But measures of offence are, in themselves, worthless or
prejudicial unless they are merely the precursors of permanent administrative ones.
It is no use paying the Baluch in their own coin, by mustering with difficulty a
sufficient Persian force under Persian leaders, raiding the country, emptying it of
stock and cash, and then withdrawing. This is what the Amir Mufakhkham would
have done had he been able. The result would have been an impoverishment of the
people, with a corresponding increase of criminality, and a sense of wrong with a
desire for revenge which would find a vent for itself in renewed raiding and
reprisals.
11. If Baluchistan is to be entered, it should be entered not again to be vacated
by the Persian Government. A sufficient force should be raised to penetrate the
country and establish a Government. A capital should be founded by the building of
quarters and barracks, and a Governor set down in it with a sufficient force. Forts
should be constructed in selected centres and garrisons established.
The force should be commanded preferably by someone who was not going to be
appointed Governor, and should be accompanied by European officers, whether Swedes
or others, to see that only reasonable political and pecuniary demands and arrange
ments were made.
Efficiently and justly administered, the province should pay its own way.
12. It would probably be best that it should be separated from Kerman, and the
local Governor be given full independent authority. Kerman and Baluchistan,
especially with the new complications of European management of the revenue and
the gendarmerie, form too large a charge for one man.
It will be said that Persian troops cannot exist in Baluchistan, and that no one

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Content

The volume comprises correspondence between: the 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. , the Foreign Office, the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, the British Consul for Kerman, the British Minister at Tehran, and the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , regarding affairs in Kerman.

The subjects are:

  • the movements of Baluchi raiders in the Province;
  • the operations of the Swedish gendarmerie against Baluchi;
  • the departure of the new Governor General from Tehran;
  • Misbah-i-Divan, created Governor of Baluchistan, on a mission to pacify Persian Baluchistan;
  • finances.

There are copies of letters in French, from Major G Glimstedt, Commanding the IV Regiment of the Gendarmerie Gouvernementale at Kerman.

The volume comprises part 2 of two. Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (138 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file. The subject 348 (Kerman affairs) consists of two volumes IOR/L/PS/10/334-335, with part 1 in the first and part 2 in the second volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 140; 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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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File 348/1913 Pt 2 'Persia: Kerman affairs' [‎114r] (232/284), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/335, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100029104409.0x000021> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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