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'Seistan' [‎286v] (572/782)

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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. .

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2
10 . Agha Saiyid Kaza of Daodi. —Has recently received the title of
“ Rukn-ush-Sharia ” (Pillar of Muhammadan Law), from the Governor-General
of Khorasan. He is an influential Mulla and trader.
11 Saitids Hasham and Muhammad —Two brothers, natives of Gauri
in Seistan. The former was a secret agent of the Hashmat-ul-Mulk’s in Tehran.
He has lately been replaced by one Agha Jan of Kain.
12 . Agha Mulla Abdulla of Jalalabad.—O wns much property in the
Miankangi District. A great preacher.
13 . Mulla Sheikh Raza.—Y ounger brother of the Mujtahid, Mulla
Muhammad Mehdi. This man is rapidly rising into importance.
14 . Mulla Ali Akbar— A man of little importance, hut in Russian pay.
15 . 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.— Chief of the Sarbandi Baluchis, and the
biggest 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. in Seistan. He owns the villages of Daolatabad (where he lives),
Sing Cheli, Sia Sar, Deh-i-Abbas, Deh-i-Mulla Ali. His duties are somewhat
as follows :— To settle cases in dispute occurring in the above villages; to
produce all the sowars of Seistan for the local Government when emergency
demands it; to arrest offenlers throughout Seistan and bring them to
justice; to collect all the grain revenue (“ Sar-mushrafi ”). He has lately
given his daughter in marriage to Sartip Muhammad Raza Khan, the illegitimate
son of the Hashmat-ul Mulk, whereby lie greatly strengthens his cause against
Sartip Mir Mausam Khan’s parly. He is much given to self-glorification and
is of the swash-buckler order. He has the reputation of being friendly to the
British; but inwardly he harbours a dislike to all foreigners in Seistan.
16 . Kalantar Amir of Iskil. —Owns the villages of Iskil, Bunjar,
Kasimabad, Deh Mir, Deh-i-Sukhta. He is one of the four Sar-mushrifs of
Seistan. He also has the collection of the grazing tax. This man, like his
father, Mir Abbas, who was murdered last year, is very well disposed to the
British.
17 . Malik Gulzar Khan. —One of the Kayani Chiefs of Daolatabad.
18 . Malik Darwesh Khan of Kachion. —A Kayani Chief. Bather-in
law of the head Mulla.
19 . Katkhuda Dost Muhammad Khan of Deh-i-Dost Muhammad.—
Head of the Saruni Baluchis. Was deprived of his land by the Hashmat-ul-
Mulk on account of being on the side of Sartip Mir Mausam Khan, and also
because he was a Sunni. This man has always been friendly and helpful to
British interests.
20 . Other leading Katkhudas are :—K. K. Darwesh Dadullah of Deh Luf,
K. K. Pakir Muhammad of Daodi, Taj Muhammad of Huseinabad.
21 . 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. Saiyid Khan, Muhammad Hussani Baluch. —In British
pay and Superintendent of Consular postal arrangements between Koh-i-Malik
Siah and Birjand. Lives at Lutuk.
RUSSIAN AGENTS AND FRIENDS.
22. Ali Jan, son of Zaman Khan, Gurgej Baluch. —Secret agent for
the Miankangi District and Seistan-Afghan border. This man supplies the
Russian Consul with all his news-agents for Quetta and Kandahar. He
himself has often visited Quetta on special work. He is also a trader and lives
at Bunjar.
23 . Warka, Parsiwan, of Wasloon tillage (Miankagi 1 istrict).
24 . Pasand Khan, Baluch. —Till recently in charge of the Russian
postal anangements between Seistan and Birjand. Has been guilty of more
than one misdemeanour against the British. A most unscrupulous man. He
sai! continues m the Russmn Consul’s pay as news-agent for the Nushki route,
the Sarhad and the Helmand valley as far as Khwaja Ali. His relations are
employed in the Russian Consulate as Government servants. He lives in
blanket tents at Lutuk.

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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
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'Seistan' [‎286v] (572/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721605.0x0000af> [accessed 3 July 2026]

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