Page 554 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

08 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF

Bakhtiari intrigues to undermine the Shaikh of Mohanunerah’s authority
with his tribesmen, which were set on foot in 1909, have continued throughout
the year, through the agency of Agha Rahim, Bakhtiari, the Deputy Governor
of Dizful. It will be remembered that in 1909 he tried to 6tir up various
Shaikhs of the Bani Turuf and Maulas of Hawizch, subsequent on which he
was summoned to Mohammerah by the Governor-General of Arabistan, Haji
Fakhr-ul-Mulk, to make his peace with Shaikh Khazal. Later, in February,
on the pretext that the Kharran lands, situated in Arabistan, were the pro­
perty of the Gunduzlu, the Acting Ilkhani and Acting Ilbegi, sent agents to
collect taxes from the Arabs, inhabiting those lands, and at the same time in­
stigated the A1 Khamis Arabs, wTho live in Bakhtiari territory to attack and
loot the A1 Amur Arabs, who are the Shaikh of Mohammerah’s subjects.
After telegraphic communication on the subject, Haji Scyyid Hussein,
Shaikh Khazars agent in Ahwaz was sent to Malamir to interview the Acting
Chiefs. Meanwhile taxes to the amount of some 300 tomans were collected
in the Kharran, and some Arabs, who refused payment, made prisoners. The
result of Shaikh Khazal’s agent’s interview with the Acting Chiefs was that
the question should be further discussed by them and Haji Rais-ut-Tujjar,
the Shaikh of Mohammerah’s Wazir at Ramuz and that meanwhile the taxes
collected were to be returned, which latter however was not done.
The result of the meeting between Haji Rais-ut-Tujjar and the Acting
Chiefs was unsatisfactory, the only decision arrived at being that the disput­
ants to the lands in question should send deputies to Tehran, there to have the
question of ownership thrashed out in the Medjliss. In the summer it was de­
cided in Tehran that the lands, which had been leased by Shaikh Khazal,
Haji Rais and others, belonged to the Sevyids of Shushtar, but up to the end
of the year the owners had not asserted their rights, nor had the taxes, collect­
ed in the spring, been returned. It is surmised that Haji Rais-ut-Tujjar,
who, in the autumn of 1910, was appointed the agent of the owners, wishes to
further discuss the matter with the Bakhtiari Chiefs, on their return to the
Low Country. The Acting Executive Chiefs also prosecuted their intrigues
against Shaikh Khazal’s authority in other directions. During the spring
they tried to tamper with Shaikh Hyder of the El Kathir, but with no success,
also with Shaikh Farhan Assad of the same tribe, with no immediate apparent
result. Later, however, in the autumn, Shaikh Farhan Assad rebelled against
the Shaikh of Mohamraerah, having been instigated thereto by Agba Rahim,
Bakhtiari, who gave him a Koran sealed by the Sardar-us-Zaffar, promising
him assistance. Further, from intercepted letters, it was established with­
out a doubt that the Ilkhani family of the Bakhtiaris, headed by the Sardar
Assad in Tehran, were intriguing against the Shaikh of Mohammerah; these
and the events which took place, proving the correctness of His Majesty’s
Consul’s prognostications, made in the autumns of 1909 and 1910, that the
Ilkhani branch of the Bakhtiaris were inimical to Shaikh Khazal and were
determined, if possible, to cause him trouble.
In November Shaikh Khazal informed the Amir-i-Muffakham that he
was sending an army against Shaikh Farhan Assad, to which he received a
reply that he (Lutf Ali Khan) was prepared to act in accordance with the
Secret Agreement made between them. The Haji Ilkhani adherents were
notified to be ready to assist the Shaikh of Mohamraerah in the event of the
Ilkhani adherents assisting Shaikh Farhan Assad. An army numbering
about 10,000 was despatched from Ahwaz, on the 16th November, under the
command of Shaikh Handzal; Deh Nao, Shaikh Farhan Assad’s head-quarters
was captured, and Shaikh Farhan himself fled with Agha Rahim Khan, Ajam
Khan and Ali Nakki Khan, Bakhtiari adherents of the Ilkhani family, who
were with him at the time, to Bakhtiari territory, where he was afforded asy­
lum. The Shaikh of Mohammerah’s army was disbanded, and since then to
the close of the year Shaikh Farhan Assad has been waiting, in the apparent
expectation of the arrival of the Executive Bakhtiari Chiefs in the Low Coun­
try, who are charged from Tehran with the settlement of the case.
Another cause celebre of Bakhtiari external relations during the year was
the trouble with the Sowlet-ud-Dowleh, Kashgai. The main cause of the