Page 217 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

AND THE MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR TIIE YEAR 1907-1900. 33

This “popular ” movement was brutally quelled by threatening tbo more
active with expulsion from the town mounted backwards on donkeys. Demo­
cratic zeal was unable to taco this ordeal, and the Postmaster still busies his
talents in the task of increasing the deficit in the Post Office cash box.
18. In January a change took place in tho Customs Office, when the local
Director, Mr. II. Clover, who had held the post for a number of years, was
transferred to Mohnmmcrah, and Sheikh Abdul Hussain was transferred from
the Shuslitcr Office to take his place.
Sheikh Abdul llassnin i9 friendly to Europeans. ITe at one time in hi9
career spent 14 years in Burma, and became a naiurnlised British Indian
subject. lie lias since his appointment given entire satisfaction to the
European part of the community.

Northern Arabistan.
19. In April the Governorship of Luristan was conferred on Sardar
Mukarrain to be held conjointly with that of Arabistan.
The Sardar has spent some four months in the company of Sheikh Khaza’l,
and a strong friendship, probably to some extent genuine, was established
between them. On May 2nd he eventually left Nasiri for Dizful with the
declared intention of proceeding to Kurramaba’d by way of Luristan. It will
be seen elsewhere that he was unduly sanguine in his designs, and that he had to
retrace his steps and prooeed up the Ahwaz-Ispaban road. This threw him
in contact with the Bakhtiari Khans, aud he made his ddbut in the sphere of
Bakbtiari politics.
Before leaving Nasiri he had induced Sheikh Khaza’l to accept respon­
sibility for the Government of Northern Arabistan in his absence.
20. The Sardar Mukarram’s departure was hailed with truculent joy by
tho inhabitants of Shuster, and in a less degree of Dizful, and Sheikh Khaza’l
was at once confronted with the difficulty of finding Deputy Governors for
the two towns, whom the townspeople would accept. Anyone imagined to
be directly dependent on tbe Sardar Mukarram was anathema to them, and
the Sheikh in view of his friendship with tho Sardar was considered as tainted
not only in his own person but also in that of his immediate subordinates.
The difficulty was solved by the recent alliance with the Shahab-us-
Sultanuh, who supplied Khuda Karam Khan, Chaharlang, of Kala Tul, for
Shushter, and a 'well-known man, tho Salf-un-Nizaui, for Dizful.
This arrangement, though promising well, cannot be said to have been
particularly successful. The Sheikh’s administration has been of a temporising,
if not of a nominal nature, and ho has made no effort to forcibly establish his
authority, excusing himself on the grounds that if he dealt with the Shusteris
according to their deserts he would gain nothing and would certainly be taken
to task by the authorities in Tehran.
Outside the town he has exercised control over the Bait Saad and
A1 Kathir Arabs, but has not attempted to deal with the disturbing forces
which make peace and security in the country west of Dizful unknown.
These forces arc principally represented by the Chanana section of * the
Beni Lam residing in Turkish territory, and the Dirakwand and Sagwand Lurs.
21. Shushter.—Shuster has passed throughout ihe year in a chronic state
of internal unr3st and agitation variegated by occasional periods of peace or
inertia induced by exhaustion.
At the beginning of tbe year under report Sheikh Murtaza, son of the
late Sheikh Muhammad Ali, returned to Arabistan from Tehran and was
acknowledged by Sheikh Khaza’l and the Sardar Mukarram. At this time in.
tbe absence of tho Sardar Mukarram from Shushter tbe members and tbo
partisans of tbo rival houso of Saivid Abdus Snmad in Shushtor took tbe
oppoitunity of interfering with the freedom of, and persecuting, tho represen­
tatives and supporters of the other family. Sheikh Murtaza hearing this
suddenly left Nasiri without notice and presented himself at Sliushtcr. His