File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎499v] (646/1080)

in this connection. Volunteers for service on the Eesht front are still being called
for not without response.
A conference upon the subject of trade with Persia was fixed for the l5tli
August.
Muhammad Khan, the last Persian Consul, was not popular in Askhabad, and
was really pushed out of his appointment by the present officiating incumbent
who, however, does not enjoy the status of Consul.
Cholera precautions are in force but no case has been reported recently.
Merv. August 6th .—The Siksia party is. still in existence in Merv. The
leaders have not changed from the times of its predecessor, the Adalat party.
They are Mehr Ali and Shams Ali. A new arrival is quoted as Hussein Aqa. They
pursue the old policy of vilifying England. It is surprising they can still get andi-
ences for the inhabitants of Merv must know their stock arguments by this time.
The Bolsheviks are endeavouring to induce the Turkmen to adopt one man
and one woman of the famine refugees per house.
The trenches and barbed wire round Merv are neglected.
Dacoit y is now very frequent. Small columns are frequently sent out to round
up robbers but, so far, no one has been caught.
Turkmen are being recruited ’and are sent to Tashkent for training. A party
of Turkmen who arrived in Meshed recently stated that the Bolsheviks were trying
to raise 1,000 of them but had only succeeded in getting 300. They are still
collecting their corn nominally on payment but the prices given do not represent
the present value of the grain.
Kushk. A ugust 9th. — Meetings are held in which Persia and Afghanistan are
spoken of in friendly terms while audiences are exhorted to practise unity and
mutual good will.
Officers accompanied by tribal chiefs go from village to village collecting
clothes and subscriptions for the famine areas.
There are large numbers of rails in the fortress. There are three reservoirs for
water. The walls of the four forts are about 15 feet hig and 8 feet thick, loopholed.
Kushk being a purely military station there are no civilians there except some 500
workmen engaged on the fortifications. Even soldiers in uniform are not admitted
within the enceinte unless provided with a pass. There is frequent fraternization
between Bolshevik and Afghan officers.
Charjui. August 2nd. — The maximum height of the flood failed to reach
the track across the bridge by about three feet. Trains stopped 1,000 yards from
each end of the bridge and their contents were transported across pieeemeal in two
cars hauled by a small engine. Labour of both sexes was impressed from all
directions, even from Merv and Bokhara, in order to avert complete disaster. The
standing crops on the banks, barns with their contents of grain, and fruit
trees have all been destroyed.
On the 23rd July three shiploads of Russian troops with 250 labourers and
three aeroplanes, also two shiploads of rations, rifles, and ammunition, left for
Kaiki and Patta Kesar. These were followed on the 1st August by 60 mounted
men and 4 guns who left for Karki along the river bank.
On the 3rd August 2,000 troops
Tashkent.
arrived from upstream and entrained for
On the 5th 600 Young Bokharans of the 4th Bokharan Regiment left Charjui
for Tashkent. The Commander’s name was Jumma Kull.
People say that the movement of troops on the Afghan frontier is evidence of
e um y of Russians and Afghans. Together they will soon be fighting the British.
Speeches exhorting to unity against the British are often given in the theatres,
is behig^sue^^^ ANr>E0VSK * 12th ^ paper currency particular to Khiva