!['Seistan' [‎110v] (220/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0238.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎110v] (220/782)")
The record is made up of 1 file (388 folios). It was created in 17 Jan 1899-4 Apr 1904. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
2
frontier in the end of January last. He pitched his camp near Deh Dost
Muhammad on disputed territory; hut eventually withdrew to 1 g an s i .
5. A reference to the Seistan diaries will show that between February
and July of this year no less than 4 deputations were sent by ® s
Governor of Chakansur, Fakir Muhammad Khan, Akhundzatla, to. int o rm the
local Governor, the Amir Hashmat-ul-Mulk (now absent m Birjand), ot tiie
arrival of the Boundary Commissioner from Herat, and inviting him to send
the Persian representative to the frontier to discuss the redelimitation question.
On the first occasion, the Seistan Governor replied somewhat tardily that, as
no Persian representative had arrived yet, the matter might he postponed or a
month or so. On the other occasions, the Akhundzada’s invitations were met
either with no response at all, or with only evasive answers from the local
Government. Both the Amir Hashmat-ul-Mulk and the Karguzar of Seistan
had also left Seistan in the meanwhile.
Piqued by the discourteous treatment he was receiving, and interpreting it
to mean an intentional evasion of the frontier question, the Akhundzada seems to
have decided to cross the disputed frontier line into Persian territory to
provoke the Seistan authorities to take some notice of his repeated requests,
and thus to bring matters to a head. On 22nd June, he wrote to the Deputy
Governor, asking for permission to visit him at his capital, and hinted that he
would bring a large escort with him. He also let it be understood that, if the
reply was unfavourable, he proposed pitching his camp at Deh Dost
Muhammad forthwith. The Deputy Governor replied that he could not allow
him to enter Persian territory with an armed force; but that, if he would come
with a few unarmed men, he would be welcomed as a guest.
The Akhundzada thereupon crossed the frontier with all his troops and
pitched camp close to Deh Dost Muhammad. This was about the 29th June.
6 . Previous to this, however, during the five months mentioned above, the
Afghans had made two attempts to provoke the Persian authorities to take action.
During the first week in April it was reported that the Akhundzada had
arrested, near Jellalabad in Persian territory, a Persian subject who was
collecting grazing-tax. This report seems to have been exaggerated, and it
would appear that the Akhundzada—claiming the new Helmund bed as his
boundary—merely protested against the Persians collecting taxes at Jellalabad.
On loth April, at a time when there was a great scarcity of water in the
Helmund, reports reached me that the Afghans had partially destroyed the
Seistan Bund at Kuhak, so as to allow of a good flow of water reaching a point
lower down stream, called Chah Gul, where they had made a dam to
conduct the water into Afghan territory. This dam had the effect of tempo
rarily cutting off the Miankangi district from water, or at any rate of seriously
reducing its supply.
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Purdil Khan, the Sarbandi Chief, was deputed to
repair the Seistan Bund and to interview the Akhundzada. The affair is said to
have been settled amicably and satisfactorily. Shortly afterwards a flood in the
Helmund gave every one a plentiful supply of water. The harvest was in no
w ay damaged by this incident. On the other hand, it is said to be the best that
has been experienced for many years.
7. To return to the action of the Akhundzada. Hearing of the Afghan
Governor’s intention to cross the frontier, M. Molitor, Director of Customs in
Seistan, hurried out to Deh Dost Muhammad with a small force of the ¥amin-i-
Nizam’s troops; but found the Akhundzada already there.
He asked him to retire, pointing out that the importation of arms and
ammunition into Persian territory was forbidden. It is said that the Akhund
zada declined to discuss the question with M. Molitor, as being only a Customs
official. M. Molitor then w'rote to the Governor to send out a force of cavalry
to his assistance. ^
8 . Meanwhile M. Miller, the Russian Consul, had written to the Deputy
Governor (the letter was read by Dr. Ghulam Gelani, our Hospital Assistant
who was attending the Governor’s Secretary, who allowed him to see it) to the
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to Seistan [Sistan] and Persia [Iran].
The file includes printed copies of despatches from the Agent to the Governor-General of India and HM Consul-General for Khorasan and Seistan (Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Martindale Temple), to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, with enclosed despatches from Captain Percy Molesworth Sykes to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (the Marquis of Salisbury). Skyes’s despatches regard matters including: Seistan; trade routes into South-East Persia; the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan, in relation to the River Helmund [Helmand] changing its course (in despatch No. 5, which includes four sketch maps, folios 12, 13, 14 and 15); Sykes’s journey to Birjand (in despatch No. 7, which includes a sketch map on folio 20); the ruling family of Kain, which also governed Seistan, Tabbas and Tun; Sykes’s journey from Seistan to Kerman [Kirman] (in despatch No. 11, which includes a sketch map); and the direct Kerman-Quetta caravan trade that Sykes was trying to establish.
The file also includes copies of the following papers:
- A despatch from Temple to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing a letter from Temple to Sir Henry Mortimer Durand (HM Minister, Tehran), with copies of enclosures, regarding the establishment of a Seistan and Kain consulate
- A letter from Charles Edward Pitman, Director General of Telegraphs, to the Secretary to the Government of India Public Works Department, enclosing a copy of a ‘Report on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for a Telegraph Line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier’ by H A Armstrong, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Telegraph Department, which includes six photographs of views along the route [Mss Eur F111/352, f 52; Mss Eur F111/352, f 53; Mss Eur F111/352, f 54; Mss Eur F111/352, f 55; Mss Eur F111/352, f 56; and Mss Eur F111/352, f 57], and a map showing the proposed route of the telegraph line [Mss Eur F111/352, f 59]
- Letters from Hugh Shakespear Barnes, Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing copies of the diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the weeks ending 16 February, 28 February, and 8 March 1900
- Diary No. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Major-General George Frederick Chenevix-Trench, HM Consul for Seistan (Diary No. 6 includes a sketch map, folio 86)
- A copy of a ‘Report on Reconnaissances Made while Attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission’ by W A Johns, Deputy Consulting Engineer for Railways, Bombay
- A copy of the report ‘Notes on Persian Seistan’, compiled by Captain Edward Abadie Plunkett, and issued by the Government of India Intelligence Branch, Quarter-Master General’s Department
- Two copies of map signed by Plunkett titled ‘Persian Seistan-Cultivated Area’ [Mss Eur F111/352, f 270]
- A booklet entitled ‘Notes on the Leading Notables, Officials, Merchants, and Clergy of Khorasan, Seistan, Kain, and Kerman.’
- Printed copies of letters from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), relating to the maintenance of British interests in Persia, dated 4 September 1899 and 7 November 1901 (the former with an enclosure of a minute by the Viceroy on Seistan).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (388 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 390; 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. The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 301A
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Seistan' [110v] (220/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000017> [accessed 26 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000017
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000017">'Seistan' [‎110v] (220/782)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000017"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0238.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/352
- Title
- 'Seistan'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:51v, 58r:58v, 60r:112r, 113r:125v, 147r:218r, 218r, 219r:269v, 271r:301v, 301Ar, 301Av, 302r:388v, 389v:390r, 389r, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence