Page 184 - PERSIAN 4 1890_1899

11 ADMINISTRATION RETORT ON THE TER8IAN GULP POLITICAL

the Tolcgraph, who induced the fishermen to retire by promising to report the
state of affairs; and on his representation, tho desirability in the interests of
peace, of the removal of the Deputy Governor Ghulam Rcza Beg, having been
brought to tho notice of tho authorities at Bushiro by the Resident, that
official was replaced by a Military Yavar.
A most unwarrantable interference by tho local Persian authorities of
Dizak and Bampur in tho affairs of certain British Indian . subjects had a de.
plorablc result. A Guru, who is also a trador, having claimed a Hiudu girl in
marriage, seems to have appealed for aid in securing her, to the Persian autho-
ritics, and Sardar Muhammad Khan’of Dizak thereupon caused tho girl and her
family to be seized and carried to Sib, where tho former was mado over to the
Guru. The unhappy girl died the samo night,.and tho circumstances have a
very grave aspect. Sirteep Zain-ul-Abadin of Bampur would seem not to be
free from suspicion of concern in tho proceedings in this case. Enquiries
have been made as far as possible; Lieutenant Sykes, who was travelling in
those parts, investigated the matter, and tho Guru was summoned to Karachi
for examination. The accounts furnished by the Persian authorities have been
recklessly contradictory, and it has not been possible to clear up the facts
attending the girl’s death, which has been attributed to poison given by the
girl’s mother, to hardships in the course of the forcible abduction to Sib, and to
natural causes. There seems little prospect of sufficiently trustworthy evidence
being obtained for formal proceedings against the Guru.
No result has been reached in the case of the abduction of tho mother and
sister of a Telegraph line-man at Jask, notwithstanding the orders noted in last
yearns report as having been issued by the Persian Government. The difficulty
of finding Daduilah, who was guilty of the abduction, has constantly been put
forward to account for the failure in this case. The women have not been
restored.
A destructive fire in April 1S93 rendered a thousand persons homeless at
Gwadur. The loss of property, chiefly belonging to Arab subjects, was esti­
mated at Rs. 78,000.
The position with regard to the escaped slaves who have sought refuge at
Gwadur, has continued to be a source of anxiety to His Highness the Sultan
of Muscat ana his "Wali at Gwadur. The demands of the Rinds for the resto­
ration of these refugees have constantly been renewed, and have at times been
threatening; but the force at the disposal of the TYali having been strength­
ened, he has been enabled to resist the demands made upon him, without a
resort to violence. At the visit of the Political Agent for South Eastern
Baluchistan, the Rinds were required to desist from their violcut;elairns for the
surrender of their slaves, who, as a matter of expediency, and in order to
remove all cause of irritation, have been, as far as possible, conveyed to
India.
10.—SLAVE TRADE.
There were no captures of slave dhows by Her Majesty’s Ships during the
year under report.
There were a few cases in which slaves appealed to the Residency for
freedom. Where it was found that importation into Persia had been recent,
manumission was granted, and if the freed slaves desired it, and it was possible,
they were conveyed to their former homes.
11.—ROYAL NAVY VESSELS.
Captain J. H. Pelly, R. N., H. M. S. Sphinx, was the Senior Naval Officer,
Persian Gulf Division, throughout the year, with tho exception of the tern-
porary intervals of the absence of the ship from the station.