Page 500 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911_Neat
P. 500

6             ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF

                       Considering that we are dealing with a country which still exists, even if
                                                 on sufferance, as a Sovereign State in
                              Korman.
                                                 treaty relations with the Great Euro­
                   pean Powers, it is difficult to conceive more complete and abysmal chaos than
                   that depicted in Lieutenant-Colonel Haig’s report. There is evidently not
                   the slightest semblance of Persian authority surviving in Persian Baluchistan,
                   and it is difficult to imagine how the Central Government can ever hope to rc-
                   iraposc its authority. I leave Colonel Haig’s report to tell its own tale.
                       An effective blockade on the Mekran Coast has been maintained by His
                                                 Majesty’s Navy at an enormous expense
                          Persian Mokran Coast.
                                                 but with signal success throughout the
                   year. With the details of our operations in connection with the suppression
                   of the traffic, it is impossible to deal satisfactorily within the narrow compass
                   of this review, and, apart from the arms traffic, there is little to call for com­
                   ment in the history of the Mckran Coast for the year.
                       The deportation of Mir Barkat, in March, bv the Darya Begi at the in­
                   stance of the Military authorities, was thoroughly deserved; unfortunately
                   the obligations of international comity were considered to preclude our deal­
                   ing with him ourselves, and the ineffective handling of his case by the Per­
                    sian authorities was a factor which had to be taken into account. His re­
                   latives, Mir Haji and Mir Mustapha Khan, between whom the Biyaban Dis­
                    trict became divided on the exit of Mir Barkat, have proved by no means satis­
                    factory persons to deal with, and it is quite impossible that wc can frequently
                    be intervening in Persian jurisdiction to render them immune from the re­
                    prisals which they naturally apprehend from Mir Barkat, now that he has re­
                    turned. It seems to be conceivable that, if the Persian Government continue
                    indefinitely unable to exercise any authority over the Baluch Mirs of the Mek­
                    ran Coast, we shall be driven to devise some measure of our own for the better
                    protection of the telegraph line and the prevention of the smuggling of arms.
                       There appears to be no doubt that Sardar Seyyid Khan, at present the
                    paramount Chief of Persian Mekran, having become a prey to the excessive
                    consumption of opium, is losing both his influence and his physical power, and
                    it would seem prudent on our part therefore to take time by the forelock and
                    try to bring his probable successor, Islam KLan, effectively under our influence.
                       Things have moved a good deal in Arabistan in the direction of the con­
                                                  solidation of our influence and the
                               Arabistan.
                                                  Shaikh’s position. It is recognised that
                    Great Britain’s most valuable interests in Persia lie in, or adjacent to, the
                    Shaikh of Mohammerah’s territory, and that the strength of his political posi­
                    tion and his prosperity are bound up with ours in that region.
                        I haVe already referred briefly to the acute friction which existed between
                    the Shaikh and the Basrah authorities in the early spring, and I need not go
                    into the facts of the case, which are fully dealt with by Lieutenant Wilson.
                    In a matter like this, the Shaikh of Mohammerah is placed in a very difficult
                    position. As local ruler of a large tract, of country, contiguous to the Turko-
                    Persian Frontier and the banks of the Shatt-el-Arab, and receiving no practi­
                    cal support whatever from an incompetent government at the Capital, he has
                    to rely for his safety, and that of the national frontier, on the friendly advice
                    and support of Great Britain, and his own resources. In his present quar­
                    rel with the. Turkish authorities his own Government, if not actually un­
                    friendly to him, at any rate gave him no help, owing partly, no doubt, to their
                    ignorance of local political and geographical conditions, and of the important
                    interests involved. He had, however, the hearty support both of the Moham-
                     merah Consulate and this Residency, and it was satisfactory to His Excellency
                     to learn, when both sides of the question had been considered by His Majesty’s
                     Government, that his attitude throughout the difficulty had met with their
                     approval.
                        Shaikh Khazal realises that, being so closely thrown with the Turks on
                     the Shatt-el-Arab, as he is. and being such a large land-owner both in Basrah
                     and on the Turkish bank of the river generally, it is absolutely necessary for
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