File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎340v] (328/1080)

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Davosh, Shar Qosh, Andijan, Marghilan, Namangan, Gorchakov, Asat
Khokand, and Chimkent. There is no confirmation of this but if’ true a ’
extensive a success of the Basmach movement is important.
56. Previous information was to the effect that Jalilabad was enioyino
semi-independent existence under Mumbashi Kumbar Haji who had ”00
troops of his own and acknowledged the suzerainty of the Bolsheviks t
Andijan. a
57. Aslambat, 50 miles north of Jalilabad, was in Basmach hands whe
last reported (28th November). The rebel leader there is Nishan Hadi who
proclaimed a jihad. He is credited with a force of 4,000 but experience shows
that all such approximations need to be divided by ten.
58. The people of Perghana are in strong sympathy with the insurgents
It is now a source of pride with the young Sart to join the revolutionaries and
they are taught to regard the killing of Bolsheviks as an act of grace.. Some
times the ears and noses of these latter are removed and one witness from
Tashkent says he has seen Bolshevik soldiers in the hosnitai there tW
mutilated. ’ r Us
59. According to one narrator the Bolsheviks are losing all hope of
subduing Perghana and are attempting to gain a respite by promising an
evacuation in March. The wholesale desertions from their ranks to^he
revolutionaries constitute for them a serious question.
60. The reader of these summaries may remember the boast of Tiuryakulov
of some months ago on the occasion of the surrender of a rebel leader that
“ Basmachism was practically finished 55 .
61. Caucasia. —An arrival from Rostov gives the gloomiest account of
conditions along the whole way from that city to Askhabad. He gave the
opinion that “ Russia is dead ”.
62. According to this narrator, General Shkorov, an anti-Bolshevik leader,
invaded Rostov and seized all material there. He is now commanding 60,000
men (which is doubtful in present economic conditions) of all races, including
Cossacks, Cnechins, langush (Muslims), Asating (Christians converted from
Muhammadanism), and Bolshevik deserters who join him in great numbers,
Pyatigorsk is now is his hands.
63. Marusa Spiridonova is operating near Novorossisk. She has a small
army of 3,000 Cossacks and her numbers are increasino’
tD *
. 64. The rood situation is the worst imaginable, a quarter pound of bread
being the S^ate ration at Rostov. All cats and dogs have disappeared. All
factories are idle and a general consternation prevails, while all hope in the
future has been abandoned.
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AFGHANISTAN.
Herat .—December 16th to 22nd.
65. An Ottoman lurk, a messenger from Jamal Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , arrived on the
16th from Russia and banded his despatches to the Naib-ul-Hukumeh.
66. A firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). has been received from Kabul which orders that the Herat-
Kandahar road he widened to 12 zar, or 40 feet. Ghulam Haidar Khan, a-
Khawanm sowar In the East India Company army and later Indian Army, an ordinary native cavalryman or mounted cavalryman. , has been detailed for the work by the Naib-ul-Hukumeh but
ov/ing to the weather the work has not been commenced. It is believed that
the Amir wishes to lay a railway from Kabul to Kandahar and on to Herat
and that this intention provides the reason for widening the road.
67. The secretary of the Naib-ul-Hukumeh has told the editor of the
Ittifaq-i-Islam that the nephew of Sheikh Senussi is expected from Meshed
and that he should not mention anything about this man in his paper. It is
said that the expected guest is coming with a large following and that-his-
MeThM ^ aBd 400 t0manS Cash have been P r0vid ed by the Afghan Agent in