File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎488r] (623/1080)

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CONFIDENTIAI.
No. 34.
Intelligence Summary tor the Week ending August 20th, 1921.
196.—Khorasan.
Meshed —Local Politics. —The political situation, both in the City and in the
Province, is now disturbed, due, mainly, to four causes whi_h may be expressed
briefly as :— r
{i) The widening divergence of Muhammad Taqi Khan from loyalty to the
Persian Government.
{ii) His definite move to prevent by force of arms the appointment of a Gov
ernor General of Khorasan, except upon his own terms.
{Hi) The militant hostility, of the tribal leaders to Muhammad Taqi Khan.
(iv) The aversion from civil war of all save ceitain officers and party leaders.
The move of the column despatched from Meshed to Sabzewar on the after
noon of the 13th (Intelligence Summary 33, page 2) was restricted pro tem. to the
first halting place outside Meshed in deference to the representations of His Britan
nic Majesty’s Consul General who had urged the futility of an appeal to force in face
of the expressed intention of the Governor General designate to travel to Meshed
unaccompanied by an escort.
Unfortunately, at this stage, news reached Meshed that the Swedish Chief of
Persian Gendarmerie, Colonel Gleerup, was on his way, unannounced from Tehran,
presumably to impose his influence upon the situation, and that he had already
passed Sabzewar. Thereupon Muhammad Taqi Khan, perhaps because he was
persuaded that the presence of the constitutional chief of the Gendarmerie might
cause a divergence of officers and men from himself, pushed out a squadron from
the above mentioned column under command of his political co-adjutor, Major
Ismail Khan, who, at Sharifabad, held up Colonel Gleerup and his party of three
Persian Colonels, one Persian Major, and five orderlies and deprived them of their
arms.
Muhammad Taqi Khan motored from Meshed and interviewed the Swedish
officer. The result was a refusal to permit the latter to come to Meshed, his return
under escort to Nishapur, and a resumption of the march of the column towards
Sabzewar.
The next phase of the situation was the attempt—which has come very near to
success—on the pait of His Britannic Majesty’s Consul General to arrange a modus
vivendi between Muhammad Taqi Khan and the Persian Government. The out-
C3me of this was that the former postulated his conditions through an interme-
diarv, the Imam Jum’a Khoi of Tehran. These conditions included the grant
to Muhammad Taqi Khan of permission to depart to Europe, unmolested, with an
escort to the frontier of his own choosing and accompanied by M. Dubois and
Major Ismail Khan ; certain reservations with regard to his own pension, and
guarantees for the immunity from reprisals of those who had supported him. Or,
he agreed to serve under Samsam-us-Saltaneh provided his recent acts are con
doned, h s budget fer Khorasan is ratified, and the Belgian Director of Customs,
Dubois, is ictained in the provincial office of Director of Revenue.
The Persian Government accepted the first conditions.
The prospect conjured up by the removal of the Chief who had persuaded
them into disloyalty and incip e it rebellion appealed neither to the political sup
porters nor to the military officers of Mulammad Taqi Khan for it seems their
representations and fear of being “ left naked to their enemies ” neutralized the
influence for good exerted by His Britannic Majesty’s Consul General. It is possible
that these representations w T ere as menacing as persuasive.
Officers in charge of detachments on the frontier telegraphed to Meshed their
intention to leave their commands if Muhammad Taqi Khan persisted in his pro
posal to leave Persia.
C4302D