ملف ١٩١٦/١٣٢٣ الجزء ١ "بلوشستان: الأوضاع المضطربة على الحدود الأنجلو فارسية. الإدارة المستقبلية لولايات مكران وسرهد وقلات" [و‎‎٤‎٢] (٨٩٦/٨١)

7. This concluded the interview which was of a very pleasant nature.
Interview with Colonel Salar Amjad.
Immediately after my visit to the General Officer Commanding I called on
h'alar Amjad. My conversation with him was chiefly about his arrest at Tehran
and his dismissal from the Birjand Command. Salar Amjad gave me the fol
lowing details :—
Sometime ago he caused to be dismissed from Government service at
Birjand a man named Abdul Hussain, brother of Abdallah Khan, who has in
fluence with the General Officer Commanding, Azerbaijan. Four nights after
he arrived in Tehran Salar Amjad and some of his intimate friends were having
a “ Women’s night ” (women, wine and song). Towards midnights Salar
received a message that a man named Abdul Hussain had called to see him.
Thinking that this was a great friend of his a chemist (an officer in the army)
he admitted the man but to his amazement discovered that it was the Birjand
Abdul Hussain. Being a special mourning night during Ramazan Salar Amjad
realized it would be a bad thing if it were made public that he had music and
prostitutes in his house so he forced Abdul Hussain to have drink in order to
commit him.
3. Later in the evening Mahmud Mirza asked Salar Amjad why the General
Officer Commanding had come to Tehran from Meshed as he was a useless man,
incapable of taking part in the conference, as indeed w T ere most of the other
General Officers Commanding owing to lack of education and military ex
perience. Salar Amjad said he did not know and in any case he had no love
for tlie General Officer Commanding as the latter owed him money. A discus
sion then commenced regarding the merits of the various General Officers Com
manding during the course of which Salar Amjad and Mahmud Mirza said
(according to Salar Amjad, jokingly) they would take 200 men and arrest the
A\ r ar Minister and all the Divisional Commanders assembled in Tehran.
4. The following morning this information was conveyed to the War
Minister by Abdullah Khan who had been informed by his brother and Salar
Amjad and Mahmud Mirza were immediately arrested.
A court of enquiry conducted by the General Officers Commanding was
held. Salar Amjad when called admitted he had made the statement but
adhered to the fact that it was a joke. He was acquitted on the General Officer
Commanding of this Division undertaking to stand security for his future good
behaviour. Mahmud Mirza, however, took a different line. Before , the court
he not only admitted having made the statement but openly abused the General
Officers Commanding stating that they should all be thrown out of their
commands as they were unfit to hold them owing to lack of education and mili
tary experience. Mahmud Mirza declared that until all the Mullahs had their
heads cut off and the present General Officers Commanding removed, Persia
would be damned and make no progress. He was severely questioned about
his dealings with the Shah and asked to state truthfully why he wished to pro
ceed to Europe. Beyond stating that he wished to improve his military know
ledge by proceeding to France and England (a thing the General Officers Com
manding could not undertake) Mahmud Mirza declined to make any state
ment in this connection. As far as is known he is still under arrest,
5. Salar Amjad then said when he arrived in Meshed a telegram dismis
sing him from the Command of No. 2 Brigade was received from the War
Minister. He hotly declared to me that he had turned “ Bolshevik ” (not
Russian) and would serve neither King nor Country in future. He said he
wished to retire into the country and see no one as he was disgusted with the
treatment he had received after years of faithful service. I only remarked
that his case was a bad one but I hoped things would right themselves and that
he would be reinstated or given another command.
(Ixecewed on 22nd June 1924, with Political Secretary’s letter No. 23, dated
5th June 1924).
Serial No. 125. —Letter from L. D. Wakely, Esq., India Office, Whitehall,
London, S.W. 1, to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office,
No. P.-lbSL dated the 2nd June 1924.
With reference to your letter of the 25th March, No. E.-2478-2280-34, enclos
ing a copy of telegram No. 94,* from His Majesty’s Charge d’ Affaires at Tehran
regarding the disposal of the Mirjawa-Duzdap railway, I am directed by the
Serial No. 39.