![File 1323/1916 Pt 1 ‘Baluchistan:- Disturbed conditions on the Anglo-Persian border. Future administration of Mekran, Sarhad & the Kalat States’ [‎192r] (381/896)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000419.0x0001e9/IOR_L_PS_10_594_0392.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "File 1323/1916 Pt 1 ‘Baluchistan:- Disturbed conditions on the Anglo-Persian border. Future administration of Mekran, Sarhad & the Kalat States’ [‎192r] (381/896)")
File 1323/1916 Pt 1 ‘Baluchistan:- Disturbed conditions on the Anglo-Persian border. Future administration of Mekran, Sarhad & the Kalat States’ [192r] (381/896)
The record is made up of 1 item (446 folios). It was created in 28 Mar 1916-16 Jan 1925. 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.
dated 24th October and No. B.-10787-207-34, dated 8th November, regardins
the disposal of the Mirjawa-Duzdap section of the Nushki extension railway,
and the political situation on the Anglo-Persian frontier.
Viscount Peel recognises the force of the suggestion contained in the
telegram of November 5th, No. 361 (Serial No. 115) from His Majesty’s
Minister at lehran that advantage should be taken of the favourable opportu
nity afforded by Reza Khan’s accession to power to endeavour to negotiate a
settlement of these questions, and while he has urged the Government of India
to expedite replies to the points on which their further views are awaited he
would venture to suggest for the consideration of the Marquess Curzon of
Kedleston that His Majesty’s Minister might be instructed at once, without
any actual piejudice to the interests of the Imperial Government, to open
negotiations without further delay.
As legards the question of the railway, it is common ground that the pre
sent anomalous position whereby a British line is maintained in Persian territory
cannot permitted to continue indefinitely. There remain two alternatives, to
tear the line up and remove it with its appurtenances for sale at a mice
(which would accrue to the Imperial Pxchequer) of probably not more "than
Bs. 2 75
lakhs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
; or to cede it to Persia. The latter alternative is qualified
by the fact that Persia cannot be expected to afford to purchase it, and it is
understood that Lord Curzon agrees in principle that the cession should be as a
free gift in return for a satisfactory quid pro quo of a political nature.
Prom the remarks in your letter of 24th October (Serial No. 130) as to the
deleterious effects of a temporary cessation of service over the line Viscount Peel
appiehends that the Secretary of State for Poreign Affairs is utterly opposed
to the idea of permanently destroying the line in order to secure its break
up value. There therefore remains the course of giving it to Persia, on condi
tions. Progress in this direction has been blocked for several months by the
failure to find a financial basis of settlement acceptable to The Lords Com
missioners of the Treasury. This issue is a narrow one, in every sense. Lord
Peel does not propose to discuss it further now, and I am to express the hope
that Lord Curzon will use his influence with Their Lordships to induce
them to agree that the offer of the line to Persia need not further be delayed
by discussion of a matter of domestic financial concern.
The political conditions upon which the line should be offered to Persia
have still to be approved by His Majesty’s Government. As will be seen from
the enclosed precis of the previous correspondence it has from the outset been
contemplated by the Government of India, His Majesty’s Minister and the
Secretary of State for India that the cession of the railway should he subject to
the adoption by the Persian Government of measures satisfactory to the British
and Indian Governments for the proper control of the Sarhad ; and His Lcrdship
does not therefore understand the intention of the passages in your letter of 24th
October which appear to deprecate the linking of the question of the disposal
of the railway with that of the restoration of order in the Persian provinces
marching with British Baluchistan. His Lordship had assumed that the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs agreed with him as with His Majesty’s
Minister and the Government of India in regarding the two questions as
inseparably connected, and, on this assumption believed that the proposals
made in my letter of 12th October P.-383t, would be recognised as new onlv
in extent, not in principle.
In his despatch (Enclo. to Serial No. 13) of December 30th, 1922
(No. 758), Sir P. Loraine sketched the measures which he proposed to urge the
Persian Government to take for the maintenance of control of the Sarhad
after the withdrawal of the present British control. In the interval since the
date of that despatch actual events have shown that control of the Sarhad is
not effective if the districts to the south of it are not also under control: and
the object of my letter of 12th October was to urge that the conditions which
it was originally proposed to attach to the gift of the railway to Persia should
be. amplified to require from the Persian Government the adoption of
satisfactory measures for the control of the whole of Persian Baluchistan.
Lord Peel hopes that Lord Curzon will agree to this general proposition and
’will instruct His Majesty’s Minister accordingly.
About this item
- Content
The part contains reports, correspondence, and printed copies of correspondence, relating to affairs on the frontiers between Persia [Iran] and British Baluchistan [Pakistan], as well as between British Baluchistan and Afghanistan. The part includes: reports of unrest and desertion amongst the Zhob militia in 1916, and losses incurred as a result, as reported by the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Zhob, Major Arthur le Grand Jacob; the granting of financial rewards to officers and men in the Zhob militia who did not desert during the Third Anglo-Afghanistan War in 1919; the continuance of funds towards a number of British border forces in 1921, including the Swat Levies and the Mekran Levy Corps; discussion of the future arrangements for the administration of those parts of Mekran [Makran] under the authority of the Khanate of Kalat, 1922; reports on the Kalat administration; the disposal of the Mirjawa [Mīrjāveh] to Duzdap [Zahedan] railway; and the transfer of control over tribes in the Sarhad district of Persian Baluchistan, from the British to the Persian authorities, March 1924.
The part’s principal correspondents are: the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India; the Agent to the Governor-General, Resident and Chief Commissioner, Baluchistan; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Kalat, Terence Humphrey Keyes; the Foreign Office; and HM Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at Tehran.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (446 folios)
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
Use and share this item
- Share this item
File 1323/1916 Pt 1 ‘Baluchistan:- Disturbed conditions on the Anglo-Persian border. Future administration of Mekran, Sarhad & the Kalat States’ [192r] (381/896), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/594/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100080241537.0x0000c1> [accessed 13 May 2024]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100080241537.0x0000c1
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_100080241537.0x0000c1">File 1323/1916 Pt 1 ‘Baluchistan:- Disturbed conditions on the Anglo-Persian border. Future administration of Mekran, Sarhad & the Kalat States’ [‎192r] (381/896)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100080241537.0x0000c1"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000419.0x0001e9/IOR_L_PS_10_594_0392.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_100000000419.0x0001e9/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/594/1
- Title
- File 1323/1916 Pt 1 ‘Baluchistan:- Disturbed conditions on the Anglo-Persian border. Future administration of Mekran, Sarhad & the Kalat States’
- Pages
- 2r:207r, 208r:293v, 295r:337v, 339r:428v, 428ar:428av, 429r:448v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence