Coll 28/90 ‘Persia. Visit of the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to Afghanistan and India.’ [‎38r] (75/313)

Rn injustice. Other cases have occurred where persons have been
waken to police stations, harshly used and questioned and
then released with no explanation. Frequent complaints
reach New Delhi also from Mahomedan pilgrims of the treatment
accorded to them by customs officials in Iran. It has been
shown that these pilgrims are subjected to continual customs
visits even in the interior of the country when they have
passed the frontier customs posts. On several occasions their
belongings and personal wearing apparel have been confiscated
8n d only recently a wealthy Bombay merchant returning from
Iraq with a large party, after passing the frontier customs
post, had all the saris belonging to the ladies of the party
confiscated at Damghan in the interior although they had
evidently been worn and were in personal use. No attention
was paid to his statements and he was finally forced to sign a
paper in Iranian although he did not understand it. A further
serious matter has been the action of the local military
authorities in forcing British Indian lorry drivers to operate
in disturbed anr 1 dangerous zones. Last December there were
cases in which inadequate escorts had been provided, drivers had
lost their lives or been wounded, one was publicly beaten for
refusal to serve, many have received inadequate payment for
their services. A claim for compensation in many of these
cases h' s been before the Iranian Government for the last six
months and more. This claim has been admitted by the local
military authorities to be fair. Nevertheless it has so far
proved impossible to dispose of the matter.
Another point is the refusal of the Iranian authorities
to give visas to British Indian lorry drivers to work on the
international Zahedan-Nok kundi road, much less in Iran, although
the Iranians are now trying to corner all the traffic for a
subsidised company of their own.
The/