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Coll 28/28 ‘Persia. Perso-Baluchistan Frontier. Demarcation near Mirjawa.’ [‎49r] (108/658)

The record is made up of 1 volume (323 folios). It was created in 14 Apr 1924-20 Nov 1935. It was written in English and Persian. 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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Letter from Colonel T. H. Holdich, C.B., C.I.E., R.E., Her Majesty’s
British Commissioner, Perso-Baluch Frontier, to the Secretary to the
Government of India, Foreign Department, No. 77*T.H., dated Simla,
the 23rd June 1896.
I have the honour to submit the following detailed report of the proceed
ings of the Perso-Baluch Boundary Commission in continuation of my prelimi
nary report dated 5th April 1896.
2. In accordance with instructions contained in a secret letter from Her
Majesty’s Minister at Tehran, dated 30th December 1895, which was duly
received by me as indicated in paragraph 2 of the Foreign Department’s letter
No. 160-E., dated 20th January 1896, the demarcation of the Perso-Baluch
frontrier has been completed from the neighbourhood of Kohuk to the Malik
Siah Koh.
3. One copy of the agreement, synopsis and maps has been made over to
the Persian Commissioner for confirmation at the court of Tehran, and the
second copy was forwarded to the Foreign Office under separate cover from
Panjgur on April 5th.
4. The British Commission consisted of the following officers :—
Colonel T. H. Holdic-h, C.B., C.I.E , R.E., Chief Commissioner.
Captain C. A. Kemball, I.S.C., Assistant Commissioner.
Lieutenant-Colonel R. Wahab, R.E., Survey Officer.
Lieutenant Price, Commanding Escort.
Surgeon-Lieutenant Turnbull, in medical charge, with Surveyors Ahmad Ali Khan.
Bahadur and Hussein Bux as assistants to Colonel Wahab.
5. All arrangements were complete for the mission by the 26th January,
on which date the party left Karachi for Gwadur by the telegraph steamer
Patrick Stewart. But little difficulty was experienced in landing at Gwadur,
and sufficient camel transport was available for the carriage of the party and
one month’s supplies in the course of a few days. Previous notice had been
sent to the Makran districts (through which the Khan of Kalat, accompanied
by Lieutenant LeMesurier, 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, was then travelling) that
camels would be required for the Commission ; and every effort had been
made by the Director of Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Telegraphs to collect them at Gwadur
as rapidly as possible ; otherwise there would have been very great delay in
effecting a start from Gwadur.
6. We left Gwadur for the interior on the 1st February, and after a rough
march of 20 days across the strike of the barren and rugged Makran frontier
hills, during which we were occasionally unable to make better progress
than from 8 to 10 miles a day, we reached Kohuk on the 20th.
7. It should be noted that by far the best route into the interior from
the coast is that which starts from Pasni and proceeds through Kej.
Pasni has, however, the disadvantage of being in itself an insignificant
village compared to Gwadur, and it possesses no telegraph office. The harbour
accommodation is about equal in both ports.
8. At Kohuk it became necessary to decide on some definite method of
work in order to complete the 300 miles of boundary that had to be demarcated
before the rapidly approaching hot weather should put an end to field survey
ing. The records of General Goldsmid’s Seistan Commission made it clear that
in order to deal successfully with Persian officials it was necessary to be abso
lutely independent of them in the matter of supplies and assistance, and to push
forward field work as rapidly as possible. The experience of years of previous
surveying in this country had also taught me that after the middle of March
it would be hopeless to expect continuous clear weather, even should it be
possible to keep the field in the desert portions of the district on account of
the scarcity of water. Every consideration therefore urged as rapid a system
of demarcation as could be adopted with all due regard to the necessity of

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Content

Correspondence, memoranda, maps and other papers relating to the establishment of a precise position of the frontier between Persia [Iran], British Baluchistan [in present-day Pakistan], and Afghanistan, arising in response to the proposed transfer to Persian ownership of the Mirjawa [Mīrjāveh] to Duzdap [Zahedan] stretch of the North Western Railway, and territorial claims made by the Khan of Kalat, Mir Mohammad Azam Jan Khan, and the Persian Government. The volume’s correspondents include: Foreign Office and 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. officials; the British Legation at Tehran (Reginald Hervey Hoare; Charles Dodd); the Government of India (Francis Verner Wylie); the Agent to Governor-General and Chief Commissioner for Baluchistan (Alexander Norman Ley Cater); the British Consul for Sīstān and Kain [Ka’īn] (Clive Kirkpatrick Daly).

The correspondence covers:

  • The historical basis for negotiations, being surveys carried out in the 1870s, and a demarcation agreement concluded on 24 March 1896 by Colonel Thomas Hungerford Holdich, later referred to as the Holdich Line. Papers include correspondence from the 1930s in response to uncertainties about the precise position of the line (including extracts of the agreement in Persian), and copies of correspondence from 1895-1896 relating to the conclusion of Holdich’s agreement.
  • Arrangements in 1932 for a joint British and Persian survey party to map the frontier, with Captain Guy Bomford of the Survey of India leading the British party. The results of Bomford’s survey are summarised in a copy of a secret letter, dated 9 June 1932, with accompanying maps (ff 113-119).
Extent and format
1 volume (323 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 321; 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 foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and two ending flyleaves.

A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English and Persian in Latin and Arabic script
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Coll 28/28 ‘Persia. Perso-Baluchistan Frontier. Demarcation near Mirjawa.’ [‎49r] (108/658), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3425, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100085225766.0x00006d> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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