File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎533v] (714/1080)

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It is reported that the recent order to merge all military formations inte
the gendarme force has been rescinded and that the Persian regular cadres are
to be once again distinct. This is probably a move on the part of the present
authorities at Tehran to subtract something from Mohamed Taqi Khan’s
supremacy in Khorasan.
Sedition.— One of Zabardast Khan’s followers, Hazrat QuK, has been
executed for aiding the former to take up arms against the Persian Govern
ment. He was also instrumental in the Bolshevik raid into North Persia last
year.
These executions, by night naturally give rise to all sorts of stories and
rumours of dark deeds on the part of the authorities, which would he impossible
if proved malefactors who had been duly sentenced to expiate their crimes were
executed coram puUico according to accepted principles.
A Mirza Ali Akbar who had come to Meshed from Russia with Saiyid
Rustom has left for Tehran. (See Intelligence Summary, 26, page 2.)
Bobik Gukasov has been set at liberty. (See Intelligence Summary, 2 . 8 * •
page 2 .)
There was a meeting of Persians and Kavkazis on the night of the 9th
instant in the house of Aqa Hussein, brother of the Askhabad Komissar, Haji
Ali Masum. One Mir M ehdi, brother of MirMurtaza, a well-known Bolshevik
sympathiser, made a speech in which he said they must all pull together. He
had heard from Tehran that the Bolshevik flag was hoisted there and that
Bolshevism is making much progress. Teey must overthrow all tyrants.
Arms, Traffic. —There has been no cessation of activity in the matter of
the illicit traffic in arms mentioned in last week’s Summary. Two notorious
dealers, Haji Ghulam Riza and Hussein AH, have been apprehended by
the authorities. There is mention in the case of the latter of the police having
resorted to some amount of physical persuasion in order to discover the where
abouts of the hoard.
These operations on the part of the authorities haye resulted in seizures
of arms in various quarters,
173. Cis-Prontier.
Bandargaz. —Newsletters, dated flrd and 7 th July, contain the following
information :—
G) The state of affairs in the Province (Astarabad) is going from had to,
worse. Every day the Turkmen become more unruly. They have taken to
waylaying people in Bandargaz by night and to sending raiding parties to
surrounding villages to steal animals and, if possible, to kidnap men and
women. The animals they sell to the owners at a low price but the men and
women they hold to ransom in one to two hundred tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. according to the
status of the captive. All this lawlessness prevails despite the presence of 50d
gendarmes.
{ii) Ships are arriving in the port but they bring no cargo.
. (m) Arrivals from Russia talk of a revolt at Saratov on the Yolga (already
noted in a previous Summary as conceded by the Bolshevik press) to suppress
which the 32nd Division was despatched from Baku. It is said that the leader
of the insurgents was a girl, Marus by name, and the daughter of a general.
Note.—The same legend attached to the insurgent flghting in the North
Caucasus of some months a^-o,
(ip) An arrival from Baku states that Daruski and Minayev have been
arrested.
(v) On the 5th July the Turkmen killed the Superintendent of the
Astarabad armoury at Mahalla Gaz which is two miles distant from Bandar*
gaz. I hey carried away all the murdered man’s property. Looting of
caravans is the order of the day. People do, not dare venture out of their
houses after dark. +
^ ver J l 0 l , “^ ene r a i has left for Tehran and it has been said that
Zamr-ul-Mulk has been appointed in his stead. The local Governor has also
been replaced by the ^Governor, Ali Akbar Khan,