File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎462r] (571/1080)

CONFIDENTIAL.
5030
Intelligence Summary No. 38 for the week ending the 17th September 1921.
(ii) Karim Khan Baloch hr.s been released on security and has gone to
Tashkent. (No news of his arrest had been communicated previously.)
(Hi) It has been the custom in previous years for a dasta to come to Persian
from Russian Sarakhs on the tenth night of the Moharram. The Chief of the
Special Department gave permission for a dasta of 59 persons to go to Persian
Sarakhs on this last occasion of the Moharram. When passing the sentry post
it was thought there were more than the stipulated number of people in the proces
sion and the guard intervened. The datta became iunruly and the Bolsheviks
got out a machine gun. Order was restored and the dasta returned to Russian
Sarakhs without having crossed into Persian territory.
(iv) A company of the 214th battalion (?) has been sent to Bokhara from
Russian Sarakhs thus reducing the garrison to normal dimensions. Bolshevik
soldiers appear to be very perplexed.
218. Trans-Prontier.
Askhabad. September 9th. —Added to a scarcity of food is now a scarcity of /
water. There has been a thinning out of famine refugees owing to the protests
of residents who see in the advent of these unfortunate people further scarcity for
themselves.
Students .in Government schools, boys and girls, get Government rations.
They are maintained at the schools and are allowed to visit their parents twice
a week. They are sent to Tashkent for higher education when sufficiently prepared.
The Bolsheviks are still pursuing their campaign for the emancipation of
Muslim women. Nisa Khanum has joined Ab-i-Hayat Kanum as one of the leaders
of this movement. They both dress in European fashions and go about unveiled.
Recruits for the army and labour corps are being taken by force.
Merv. September 9th. —On the 28th August the Afghan Consul at Tashkent
with two Turkish officers and two Jewish Bolshevik officers arrived at Merv from
Tashkent and were received with a guard of honour. After an hour’s stay at Merv
they continued their journey to Kushk.
Troop movements to Kushk and westwards towards Krasnovodsk are rare.
Trains run to Kushk every third day.
Troops in this garrison are getting one and-a-half pound of bread a day with
soup every other day. Boiled wheat in lieu of rice is given once a week. The
monthly ration is a pound and-a-half of raisins, apple chip, tea and tobacco. A
new issue of clothing is overdue and footwear is exceedingly hard to come by.
Soldiers are well treated by their officers but under the surface there is much
discontent owing to hardships of existence. Disciplinary punishments are light
for petty offences though desertion and the making away with rifles is punishable
by death.
Russian Sarakhs. See under Persian Sarakhs.
Charjui. September 6th. —Two ship loaijs of troops were sent to relieve those
at Karki but the relieved troops had not arrived up to the time of this report.
There is a great divergence in the political views of the sailors of the Flotilla
and those of the Communists. The better class among the public sides with the
sailors.
Speeches advising the practice of economy, to collect subscriptions for the
mine districts, to cultivate the soil, to practise unity, and to do away with the
iling of women, are frequently delivered.
in IITVIA FORXX&N
£EC R*AAHY’S NO 86M i
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Rec c
14th NOV•
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