File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎367v] (382/1080)

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The Barbari gendarmes who deserted their post at Qazamabad and took
up their headquarters at Posa Koh were surrounded by Cossacks and appears
V Q +.v»pir number killed. The matter has thus been
“ liquidated.”
Individual desertions from the Gendarmerie of people with their
arms continue to be recorded. Nevertheless, they are still being enrolled, some
75 of them having signed on during the week for tne 10th Itegiment from
Tehran. Applicants for enlistment are expected to furnish personal securities
for their good behaviour.
Travellers from the south complain of acts of extortion on the part of
gendarmes occupying posts on the Birjand-Meshed road vho, being in arrears
for their pay, resort to rough and ready means to maintain themselves.
Movements.—TLeza* Khan, the commander of the Bujnurd contingent which
assisted in the downfall of Muhammad Taqi Khan, has arrived in Meshed on
pilgrimage with thirty horsemen and, probably, to present himself to the
incoming Governor-General. There was on occasion some disturbance between
invididuals of his following and Meshed gendarmes on account of fends
originating in events in Quchan. Special orders have been issued to protect the
visitors from a repetition of such interference.
Two Barbari tribal chiefs, Ghulam Shah and Saiad Ali, father-in-law
of Saiad Haidar Barbari, with small escorts arrived in Meshed on the 1st
instant, presumably to meet the expected Governor-General.
Salar Nasrat, commander of the road guards between Shahrud and
Meshed, left fer Sabzewar with the balance of his horsemen on the 30th
November.
A contingent of 25 Cossacks and 15 gendarmes has gone to Quchan (30th
November).
I Bolsheviks.—It is not improbable that the arrival of the Bolshevik
Consul-General will react greatly to the advantage of the Turks and other
revolutionaries at present in prison pending trial for complicity in Muhammad
Taqi Khan’s plans. Be that as it may, it must be conceded that the presence
of a representative of an avowedly revolutionary government marks the
beginning of a new phase in the political life of the city. Agents will be
free to come and go, propagandists to pass in and out of Kussia. Bor it is
doubtful if the Persian Government is strong enough to adopt repressive
measures against such people who will claim the protection of their Consulate
I upon any and every occasion of reference to themselves.
Abdul Hamid Mohsinzada, long suspected of being a Bolshevik emissary
(he arrived with a store of gems last October year from Tashkent), was
anxious to pursue his journey to India but was unable to secure a visa on
his passport. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of being one of the
Nationalist party, but has been released along with others.
Aqa Ismail Milani arrived from Askhabad on the 27th November. He
is a Bolshevik agent and talks of an intention to go to Bombay.
The individual mentioned in preceding Summaries as Haji Saiad Ismail,
alias Sheikh Ismail Elbaqi, left Meshed for Herat on 2nd December. He
is reported to have been accompanied by seventy Arab compatriots. . He
gave out different particulars regarding himself at as many interviews,
nevertheless, it is tolerably certain he was an Anglophobe and that he had
fought against the British. So far as could be ascertained he had no Arab
passports. It has not transpired if he was on a definite mission or was
merely a fugitive seeking a new land. The number of his following would
support the latter view. A letter directing he should be kept under observa
tion has been sent to the British Agent at Herat.
General .—Afghan subjects rseident in Persia have been notified that they
are expected to submit particulars regarding themselves for registration wi
their representatives in the country. The measure is described as 0]1 ® ^
finding favour among them—possibly because it may foreshadow responsim i y
for military service.