Page 365 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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two ffung, also tho two Regiments of Infantry nnd four guns appointed to collect the revenue
together with 300 Cavalry anil all local servants; and purposed repairing to Mekran and
taking up my quartors in C liar bar, which, though entrusted to you by the Persian Govern­
ment, oven ns Bundor Abbas is, is nevertheless Mekran soil and protected by Persia. My
intontion was, in the ovent of parties being desirous of transportin'.' their things from ship to
slioro, to prevent them all from doing so until they had brought nn authority from the
Persian Government, on production of which, if they desired to extend tho wire across my
face, they would bo at liberty to do so. My dear brother, Meor Abdullah Khan, however,
forbade mo to place my foot in tho house of you, my brother, without your knowledge.
Although it is Mekran soil that is concerned, and although Bunder Abbas and Charbar
arc entrusted to you, my brother, on tho part of Persia, yet it was necessary I should mako
an intimation to you on the subject. I am at
• Sic in orig.: but Pishio in tho Ponian.
Pussnee • territory protected by Persia and in
stages distant from Gwadur; I beg to notify to you, my brother, that if you are able to
repel those English and not permit them to transport their things from sea to shore, very
good; otherwise 1 am here with your knowledge and permission, and if it iB not in your
power to prevent them, write me word that I may come and prevent them with a view to
their proceeding and obtaining an authority from the Persian Gpvernmcnt. This much I write
to you; that I cannot as a servant to Persia look back upon sucli proceedings lightly, and it is
requisite that I should come and take up my position there and prevent them. If more troops
be required, 1 must write to tho Bclcrbey of Fars and Kerman to send more, in which event
your territories and the territories entrusted to me will be ruined.”
20. In connection with these written threats Mr. Walton, Superintendent,
Mekran Telegraph Department, wrote to tho Commissioner in Sind (No. 109,
dated 18th April 1803) that during tho early part of the month he remained at
Gwadur receiving matorial and stores and arranging for tho completion of the
line. Constant rumours of the approach of a large body of Rinds, under Persian
Commanders, kept the place in a state of oxcitoment, and all communication
with tho interior was interrupted. On tho morning of the 12th of March a
body of these marauders, commanded by Shah Dost, under the orders of the
Persian Governor of Barapur, approached within throe or four miles of Gwadur,
carrying off a great, number of camels and cattle of all sorts. The reported
murder by them of twelve men had been confirmed, and several wounded were
bi ought into Gwadur. Except that this affair caused alarm among the work­
men, no direct injury was sustained by the telegraph construction parties. The
country had been otherwise undisturbed, and he continued to anticipate that
both the working parties and tho lino would remain uninjured.
21. A few days after completion of the line two more letters from Ibrahim
Major u,r...tb.r t, s«r.t.rv to Gor.rom.nt Khan, one to the Wali of Gwadur and
of Bombay, 15th May 1863. Page 361, Volumo one to Mr. Walton, were received through
112 of 1863. the Political Agent at Maskat. The
writer, as expressed in the forwarding letter, seemed “ to confine his threats to
the carrying of the Telegraph beyond Gwadur; but at the same time speaking
of Mekran and Beluchistan in most vague terms.’*
22. Ibrahim Khan’s prccccdings having formed the subject of a reference
to Tehran, Mr. Thomson, Secretary of Legation and then Chargd d'Affaires,
informed the Political Agent at Maskat on the 6th May 1863 that the Gov­
ernor of Bam pur had no authority either from this Government or from his
immediate superior, the Governor of Kerman, to take tho steps which he did.
Indeed, the Shah’s Ministers were in igno­
Pago 361, Volume 112 of 1863.
rance of what bad occurred; having as
yet received no reports from the frontier officials relative to this matter.
The Persian Government did not disapprove of Ibrahim Khan’s having
intimated that if the Telegraph was to pass through any districts which were
the property of Persia, the permission of the Persian Government would be
required, but they disapproved of the communications which he thought proper
to make on this occasion. Ec was, however, as far as might be justly surmised
from the stylo of bis correspondence, a person of inferior rank and standing,
and, as the Amin-ud-Dowlah remarked, scarcely competent to arrive at very
sound conclusions on matters connected with the foreign relations of the
country.
At the same time the Persian Ministers stated that not only Bunder
Abbas, but also some of the districts in Mekran and on the shores of the
Persian Gulf, belonged to Persia, though they were for the present, either by
4626 F. b.