File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎699r] (1045/1080)

SECRET.
INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING THE 29 th JANUARY 1921,
No. 5.
Khorasan and North=East Persia.
SO British force .—Tlie two remaining squadrons of the Kurd Mounted
Levy were demobilised on the 26th instant at Kuchan without incident. All
rifles have been handed in. British officers and details with the \ squadron of
the 42nd Cavalry wull leave for Meshed at the end of the month.
The demobilisation of the Khorasan Levy Corps was completed some days
previously and British officers of this formation left for India by motor convoy
on the 25th instant.
31. Frontiers —The Shahsavar incident was confirmed by a telegram
from Tehran dated the 22nd instant which stated that a small Bolshevik force,
apparently on a foraging expedition and supported by 2 ships, was operating
between Shahsavar and Abbasabad, and that they had encountered some local
opposition.
Telegrams from Bandar Gaz state that on the 24th instant a Bolshevik
steamer visited Gumash Tapa, seizing and removing to Hassan Qali all goods
on board a Persian-owned boat.
On the same day an airplane w r as reported to have circled Bandar Gaz
several times after dark, dropping lights.
Owing to uneasiness as to Bolshevik action on his frontiers and his own
lack of men and funds the Governor-General of Mazandaran is reported to
have tendered his resignation to Tehran. It w r as not accepted and promises of
ample reinforcements and funds are said to have been made him.
(2) Bulatov has returned to Meshed on the conclusion of supply arrange
ments at Ba]giran and the transport of supplies to Russian territory has been
in progress for some days. As recently at Baragiz the proceedings at Bajgiran
were of a convivial nature and Mereshnikov in his cups stated that it was
immaterial whether the Persians opened the road or not as the Bolsheviks
would see that it was opened in the spring.
Colonel Denisov has not yet succeeded in putting through supply transac
tions at Sarakhs. +
32. Local. —Much uneasiness as to the future exists in the city and the
frame of mind can be gauged by the fact that a certain mujtahid, credited
with the power of answering questions presented to him in a sealed envelope
without opening it, recently received 30 of such questions all of which enquired
the future success of Bolshevism. To all enquirers he replied that Bolshevism
w as doomed to failure.
A number of suspects have been released and in some cases ordered to
deport themselves. Others remain here. Among the latter is Yasin Aghaov
(No. 7 Black List) w ho apparently owes his release to the efforts of his former
employer Mirza Javad Khan. Ghulam Raza Hussainov and his partner Ali
Akbar, both Yazdis (Nos. 15 and 16 Black List), receive a number of these
gentry at their newdy opened “hotel Tus ” in the Bala Khyaban.
A propagandist and Bolshevik agent—a Russian Subject named Ivan
Selikh whose arrest on the frontier led to the capture of 3 of his confederates
already at Meshed w 7 as furnished with several documents from the Committee
of Movement and Propaganda in the East. These included a recommendation
to all railway authorities to accelerate his journey to Pers : a whether he was
proceeding in the interests of Bolshevist propaganda another to all Eastern
revolutionaries to further his W'ork of guiding the poor and workmen at Tehran,
and a programme of work to be done, viz , to ascertain details of adherents to
Bolshevism, republicanism, and “young revolutionaries’* in Persia, what
suitable leaders for a republic w r ere available, and to investigate the attitude of
p easants and workmen towards the existing,regime, fur^vti^ra&dm:
a report on railways (P), carossable roads"/and routes iffTersiafgeneYaHy-rT
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