Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎315r] (630/669)

2 -
TRIBAL AFFAIRS.
(9)
Muhammad Ali Khan Lirawi called! at + lie Consul
ate-General on •'-he 4th Oc+oher and left ror C eh rafi
next day 0 He hoped t 0 come to some arrangeme*
Halat Raudis in Tehran. He mentioned that one of his chief
grievances was the purchase of 4/6+hs of the Hissar property
hy his rivals: he contended that his family, being ancestral
owners and occupiers, had a right of pre-emption under
Islamic Law.
( 10 ).
Mr:
Chassih, the English wife of oheikh Chassih
ho u
■ed
. we would
ant
x o
ha ve any-
them
ue
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o
make Mrs©
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d
at all.;
eldest son of the la + :e bheikh Khaz f a]., arrived here on the
6 th Octoher* She called accompanied by a ‘bre + her~In >-1 aw
named bheikh Jabber. and explained in great detail
that she hoped to put her husband s complicated affairs ik
Khuzistan in order.. She hoped x hat it would be possible'
for the family +o settle down in Khuzistan and *o~ retake
possession of +nelr palaces, as they were Arabs and could
not really settle anywhere else: they merely wanted to be
Quiet and to live on their revenues. She
have no objection to that: they did not
thing do with politics, nor to concer
the Oil Company. It proved very diffi
Chassib. see that the Persian Government existed at ...
she appeared convinced that x he British run Kliuzio x an lS
i 1 *-) * m 3epehr-Rad, th e aged inspector of *-'ne dinlstry
of the Interior, has inspected Dasht-i-Mishun, of which he*"
was governor 17 years ago« He brings back a stony ^-hat about
ten days before he left Brigadier Humayuni gave certain
assurances t 0 some Bani ~uruf bheikhs living across the
frontier, relying on which Muhammad Asi the brother of
Yunus came back to Persia and, as reported in Anwaz News ho 0
(15), was killed by the bawari tribe. The inspector naint 0 "
a sorry picture of inefficiency and intrigue, *His version
is as follows,^ At present ^he Persian Government, has armed
Mou.i.a Nasruliah, bakhshdar of Howaiseh, 'and relies him
and his followers • t o neutralise the Bani ^arufl Meanwhile
the number of rersian Government departments is ab surdly
large for such a small area: there is an 0 , G, Garrison,*"a
Frontier Commander, a Becurity Officer, a Gendarmerie
Commander, and a head of Police: with civilians such as the
Director of Posts, Civil Registration, Customs, Economics,
i?inance, ecc. , all nominally under a Farmandar who is
assisted by a Mayor or head of the Municipality; ail *hese
officials are at daggers drawn with one another© The
Security Officer, Mustafa Khuzistani, does not take bribes
but is no.politician and cannot keep order. The inspector 5 s
solution is x 1 j disarmament of all tribesmen, including the
Howaizeh Arabs: and the increaseof 4 -he garrison from 30 to
IOC, x he area being run by a strong Military governor: 2}
exile of the accused Bani ‘Biruf Sheikhs and also of Moula’
Nasruliah, Ahmad Ziarat, and Sheikh Ismail, and (5) equi+able
re-distribution of the lands.
SECURITY.
( 1 ^); There has been a good deal of patrolling and
stories of armed robberies in and round the town of Ahwaz
since about the 1 st October. Shots have been heard at night
on se/eral occasions s.nd the divisional commander* hns
strengthened the police guards with troops© Borne robberies
the AIOC area have oeen attributed to servants, or ex-
servants, of tiie company.