International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015 1916
ISSN 2229-5518
MA Political Science, Islamic Azad University, Baft Branch, Baft, Iran
It will be tried in this research to study each one of Goldsmith's and McMahon's arbitration in determining the border line of Sistan by expressing the reasons of
conceptual ambiguity. Meanwhile we express the results of these arbitrations; we will investigate Alam's dynasty's support of these factors for achieving their goals in the
region. The applied method in this research is causal method and by the use of library method, the necessary data are collected. The results show that the Alam's dynasty had
paved the way to achieve the objectives of the England. According to the conducted research, continuing the mission of each of the desired arbitration was dependent on the
presence of Alam's dynasty that each of foreign officials had confessed to it. Concerning the situation of this family and Shah Qajar and public opposition to their
presence in this region and on the other hand, they were supported by England so they continued their presence in the region.
Sistan region is in eastern of Iran and is located in north of Sistan and Baluchistan. This
region has always been considered by the foreign governments because it has a special geographic position and it is near large river of Hiramnd and Hamoon Sea and it has also a special politic place and it has Special credit from strategic perspective. The main problem of this research is to study Assessment of Alam's dynasty role in the formation of Gold smith's and McMahon's arbitration in Sistan region. The ancestors of Alams were from the Arabian Peninsula and from the Arab tribes of Khazima. The name of this family was mentioned for the first time in history at the time of the second caliphate of Abbasid, Mansur, at the time of Mansur some riots happened around Sistan and khorsan against him. For quelling the riots of Sistan and Southern regions of Khorasan, Mansur sent Kahzem bin Khazima to these regions. He suppressed the riots and created a dynasty of Emirs of Khazima with his tribes in Ghahasatn (Kohestan) including Ghayen, Gonabad, Toon and Tabas. They chose the title of Alam for themselves at the time of Pahlavi and from this date onwards they were known as the dynasty of Khzima (Alam). During the reign of Nasaredin Shah the rule of Sistan was assigned to this family (Emir Alam Khan III). Emir Khan Alam was considered as one of the prominent face of this family. He took the title of Heshmat o Almolk from Naseradin Shah. The Alam's dynasty had an effective role in border regions of Iran for centuries as a local government (border guard). English boundaries group led by Gold Smith and Mack Mahoon and forming the current borders of Sistan (Helmand River) was formed by Alam's help and thought, so, assessment of Alam's dynasty role in the formation of Goldsmith's and McMahon's arbitration in Sistan region will be studies in this research.
Was the situation of Alam's dynasty effective in the formation of Gold Smith's and
McMahon's deals and politic boundaries of Sistan?
IJSER © 2015 http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015 1917
ISSN 2229-5518
It seems that the situation of Alam's dynasty was effective in the formation of Gold
Smith's and McMahon's deals and politic boundaries of Sistan.
1. In a book entitled" Alam's dynasty and colonial policy", Dr. Sistani Afshari.I has
studied the British colonial policy in Sistan and while introducing the main characters of this family, he reminds them as a colony which was effective in boundaries and policy situation of Sistan and introduced them as an effective politic factor in forming of Uprising of 9th February 1952.
2. in a book entitled" little players in the big game" Dr. Mojtahedzadeh. P, reminds England as the big players and Alam's dynasty as the little players. In this book, he points to foreign ties of Alam's dynasty and also to similar circumstances of emergence of borders of Sistan and evolution of the border with Afghanistan.
3. In a book entitled" The burnt Land" Dr.Toosi.R has studied Sistan political status and importance of the external parts and reminds it as Sistan and competition of major powers and he also points to role of Heshmat o Almolk as an important and effective character of Alam's dynasty in furtherance of political issues of Sistan.
4. In a book entitled " The history of Sistan in Qajar era" Dr Piri.M points to the place of Sistan and the events of south-east of Iran and Sistan at the time of Alam's dynasty and ultimately he points to the role of this family in destruction of Sistan and their collaboration with the United Kingdom in shaping the political boundaries of Sistan.
The applied method in this research is scientific.
The method of data collection in this research is library method.
The tools of data collection in this research are taking notes.
After the wars of Herat, 1857 AD /1273-4 AH, an agreement was signed Between Iran and Britain in Paris, it is appointed in its sixth phase:
«If a dispute will be emerged between Iran and Herat and Afghanistan, Iran commits to refer its reform to the friendly efforts of British government» (Mahmood, p 697).
In 1870 AD/ 1287 AH, the England suggested arbitration to resolve the border dispute between Iran and Afghanistan and Hirmand water according to the above deal. Gold
Smith was elected as the chairman of the British board and as the arbitrator and the judge of two sides. In August 1870 AD, he moved from England and reached Tehran in
3th October 1870 AD / 1287 AH and sent a telegraph to the English governor of India that the representative of Iran is going to Sistan from Mashhad and allows him to go the
region in the same way. The governor of India replied him: because Emir Yequb Khan, the son of Emir Shir Ali Khan has rebelled against his father, the election of the
IJSER © 2015 http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015 1918
ISSN 2229-5518
representative of Afghanistan may be deferred to another time, so it was agreed that the border line of Baluchistan be determined at first and it was decided that the representative of Iran and Gold Smith go Baluchistan by the way of Isfahan- Yazd- Kerman.
In 6 March of 1871/1288 AH, Goldsmith arrived in Gvadar and began his work in order of the governor of India and after determining the boundaries of Baluchistan, he came back Tehran in tenth July of 1871 AD/1288 AH (the previous reference, p 945) and he had the audacity to vote to the independence of Kalat and annexed some part of Baluchistan to Kalat and Naser al-Din Shah Qajar accepted this oppressive colonial judge, too. The demarcation of the border line of Sistan was Gold Smith's second disgraceful mission. So he went to London and presented his reports to the Britain government about his works on the border line of Baluchistan and he was awarded the title of Knight and the sign of the star of India was given to him.
Unfortunately, the government of Iran did not heed from this purely colonial judgment
and accepted him as the arbitrator and judge in the dispute between Iran and
Afghanistan once again (Afshar Sistani, 1990).
The boards of Iran, Britain and Afghanistan went to Sistan to investigate the dispute between two sides and arrived in Sakvha / Sakba in February 1872 AD / 1289 AH (Mahmoud, 1967, 953).
After local investigation, Gold Smith couldn't do anything in Sistan because he was
faced by the opposition of Mirza Abdulla Ansari, the representative of Iran, and went Tehran and declared his opinion unfairly and placed Hiramd as the border of Iran and Afghanistan according to his disgraceful mission and annexed another part of Iran to Afghanistan by the help of local agents of imperialism in the region, Alam's dynasty who acclaimed to protect the boundaries, once again. In 1872 AD/ 1289 AH, the third Alam was the governor of Ghayen and Sistan when a great prosperous part of Sistan was separated (Raesitoosi, 2006, 72).
During the survey which was conducted by the Border Dispute Review Board, the
people of Sistan showed their opposition in different ways to British and Afghan forces. In 1872 AD/ 1289 AH Gold Smith resolved that 2848 miles with a population of over
45,000 will be transferred to Iran from total sum of area of 7007 miles of Sistan. From this number of populations, twenty thousands were Sistani, fifteen thousands were from
Persian immigrants and ten thousands were Baluch (Hashemi rafasanjani, 1967, 510). At first, two sides didn't accept Gold Smith's resolution and each side condemned him
to support the other side.
The Gold Smith's resolution not only did not end the conflict, but also created new
problems. The uprising of some Baluch tribes against Mir Alam Khan that was began after the Gold Smith's resolution was the first negative effects of this resolution. Evidence shows that Gold Smith's resolution didn't meet the demands of local commanders and ceded their land to a government that they were not subordinated to it. Moreover, some content among the inhabitant of these areas was created because of it. By placing the main branch of Hirmand River inside the border of Afghanistan in Delta region, Gold Smith enables that country to block the water of Hirmand to the fertilized lands of Sistan in Iran which was strongly dependent on it if that county will to do it at any time.
Generally it can be said that:
• The people of Sistan and the government of Iran have considered Gold Smith's arbitration as a tool for looting of their inheritance land.
IJSER © 2015 http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015 1919
ISSN 2229-5518
• The implementation of this arbitration was so damaging for Iran that portion of Iran in this judgment has not been considered worth keeping.
• The England has dictated this arbitration on Iran for protecting their interests.
• The Afghans are the agent of English in this process.
Although the English split Sistan which was belong to Iran to please the Afghans and didn’t consider the historic and logical reasons and authenticated Afghans' false
pretenses; but Afghanistan's ruling was still unhappy with the outcome of the arbitration because he expected that all over of Sistan be transferred to Afghanistan by the help of
England.
Gold Smith's arbitration not only didn't solve the crisis of Sistan but also added the
problem in Sistan. He provided the field of destruction of Sistan and brought the permanent tension between Iran and Afghanistan by dividing it into two parts regardless of logical division of water of Hirmand.
The matter of division of the water of Hirmand and the way of its using in delta region
has been one of the important factors in the territorial dispute between Iran and Afghanistan in Sistan after Gold Smith's arbitration. Although the two countries agreed to mark the boundary lines attempting to end the territorial issues but in spite of numerous meetings, the matter of water division and the right of using it remained unsolved and was as the main problem between the two countries. The main problem was that the rulers of Afghanistan considered the river of Hirmand as an internal river of their country and preserved the right of using the water of this river for themselves at any way. This has been pointed to this prospective in McMahon's note in September 29,
1904 that the Afghan government doesn't accept the water dispute and believed that there was not a dispute about water. Because of its geographical location, they believed it was only Afghanistan which was the owner of all of Hirmand.
With such a view, the rulers of Afghanistan not only denied the people's right of Sistan
of Iran for using the water of Hirmand who their life was dependent on it but also they didn't respect the agreements about the Border Rivers.
The purpose of McMahon's commission was not only arbitration about the water of
Hirmand but he was commissioned to expand the line of telegraph from India to Sistan
and Mashhad. The Russians was competing with the English so they have sent some people to have been deployed them in key areas of telegraph line in Mashhad and Sistan. So McMahon was forced to postpone the development of the telegraph (Mojtahedzadeh, 2007, 305).
He also had a mission to provide a detailed and accurate map of Sistan to be used by
England for the purposes of its colonial use in future.
In addition to mapping and intelligence, these forces did goods trading during their stay. McMahon's board began their investigations after arriving in Sistan immediately.
The government of Iran limited the McMahon's arbitration to solve the problem of water of Hirmand meanwhile stipulated acceptance of McMahon's arbitration in that the
issued judgment should be complied with Goldsmith's arbitration.
For ending the disputes, McMahon marked the points which were demarcated as the
border line of Iran and Afghanistan by Goldsmith (Mojtahedzadeh, 2007, 122).
The first case of McMahon's arbitration: he confirmed the demarcated border line of
Iran and Afghanistan which was based on old canal of river conducted by Goldsmith's
IJSER © 2015 http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015 1920
ISSN 2229-5518
board. This decision was approved by the Iranian government and the mentioned border line was marked.
About the latter case, the water division of Hirmand, since the McMahon's arbitration was a change in the nature of matter, the approval of Iranian government was not
obtained and Colonel McMahon violated the Goldsmith's provision (Fair division). While Gold Smith had reminded this provision and requirement particularly, and he had
stipulated the arbitration in the condition that one portion of water will beflowed to Iran and two other portion of water will be flowed to Afganistan. Naturally, this arbitration
would not be acceptable by Iran. So it was objected by Iran due to violation from the terms of the arbitration.
Hereby, he reduced the portion water of Iran to one-third of total amount of water that reached to the dam of Kamal Khan. The decision of McMahon's commission was
against research findings about water use and the need for water in Iran but it was only for protecting the interest of England and attracting the satisfaction of Afghan
government in this part of Asia. This arbitration decreased portion water of Iran from
62% to 33%. This decision was not accepted by Iran but was immediately accepted by
Afghan government and conflict about water of Hirmand was continued. Iranians used more water of Hiramnd in the Delta region. This causes dispute between the two sides at the time of aridity. Using of more water of Hirmand by Iranian Sistani in later years caused the Afghans to do something. They poured the needed water from Hirmand River to the dam of Kohak by building new canals in Khachansor region.
1. None of the parties should build any buildings or pools that as a result of it the
drinking water for agricultural land on both sides of the River reduced.
2. The amount of water needed to irrigate the Iranian lands which are irrigated from the
dam of Kahak will be reduced to one-third of total amount of water of Hirmand River that flows into Sistan.
3. To monitor the proper implementation of this decision, an experienced technical engineer of irrigation will permanently remain in Sistan and he will resolve disputes that
may arise.
4. The government of Iran has no right to give the amount of water that has obtained
according to this agreement to another country without the permission of the government of Afghanistan.
It can be realized in a short analysis that the McMahon's decision had a great and major risk for Sistan. It will be determined by drawing a simple map that the River of Hirmand
will form an intersection when arrives in Iran and form a fifty-five kilometers of watery border from the source of River to the soil of Iran. So according to the McMahon's
decision that recognized Afghanistan as the owner of the river of Hirmand and the place of intersection was in it and could control the flow of water of river even by building of
small dams in the mountainous parts of its soil and the river of Hirmand passes over
1000 km of its total area in these areas and if some water remained at the end of 1,400
km of the route of Hiramnd until the border of Iran, will be flowed in the river of Paryan that is a common river between Iran and Afghanistan and it has 55 km long. From this little amount of water, the share of Iran was determined 1/3 percent and 2/3 percent was determined as the share of Afghanistan. Therefore, the Government of Afghanistan could strongly pressure the inhabitants of Sistan for supply of water in long term.
IJSER © 2015 http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015 1921
ISSN 2229-5518
The collaboration of Heshmat o Almolk with the English had a great impact in carrying out their strategic plans in Sistan. This collaboration was valuable for English until the first mid of the late1900s and on the other hand they were trying to keep him in power. When Major McMahon with a military mission reached Sisatn to study and realize the different strategic scenario of the Indian state of Britain in early January 1903, Heshmat o Almolk paved the way for his future success (Zavsh, 1987, 120).
McMahon arrived in port of Kohak on February 15. Yamin Nezam and Mirza Mosa Khan, the agent, who had still not an order to accept the McMahon's board, prevented them to arrive in Sistan and when the McMahon's board insisted to arrive, they were threatened to be prevented from arriving forcibly according to the report of the Indian Council of Britain in Nosrat Abad. At the same time, the government of Britain was concern about the Shah's authorities to create problems in the implementation of its policies in Sistan and desired to adjust the military force to facilitate McMahon's entry. . Evidence shows the collaboration of Heshmat o Almolk with English was in such a way that the resumption of McMahon's mission has significantly dependent to maintain his position in Sistan. Hence, when a rumor of his removal from his position by Shah because of his collaboration with English was reflected to Britain, the Foreign Minister of Britain ordered Harding:
Use an opportunity to indicate the chancellor this matter that the UK government has strongly condemned the removal of Heshmat o Almolk. He has shown that he is a powerful ruler (Ravandi, 1978, 57).
Since the removal of Heshmat o Almolk is against our interest and will be an outcome
for Russia, I suggest that, if the problem has not been solved, it will be ordered to relinquish from opposition to the commissars of Iran and encourage the government of Iran to cancel his decision about the removal of Heshmat o Almol from the government of Sistan by using this issue and other concessions.
But McMahon's request for keeping of Heshmat o Almolk in power based on giving concession to commissars of Iran Indicates the importance of the influence of Emir of Sistan for achieving the strategic goal of McMahon's mission. The approval of the Viceroy of India and subsequently, the approval of the Secretary of Britain with McMahon's suggestion and his order to Harding to act in accordance with his opinion, indicates the critic role of Heshmat o Almol in providing the interest of Britain at that time. After arriving in Sistan, McMahon announced his arbitration less than a month (Soon, 1976, 175).
According to the expressed issues, it will specified that Britain has always tried to achieve his colonial goals in Sistan region and the hypothesis of using Alam's dynasty
for reaching this goal will be approved. According to the obtained evidence, this family has always paved the way for Britain to achieve the colonial goals insofar the
resumption of each one of the mentioned arbitration was based on the presence of
Alam's dynasty according to the conducted research. Each of foreign officials had
confessed to this fact. Concerning to the Alams' situation and Shah's and people's opposition in Qajar era against their presence in this region but the support of Britain caused them to continue their presence in this region. Nevertheless, over the years the agents of this family is still trying to set up in the situation of this region (Agheli, 2006,
48).
IJSER © 2015 http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 5, May-2015 1922
ISSN 2229-5518
1. Afshar Sistani. I, (1984), a look at Sistan and Baluchestan, Teharn, Khezrai.
2. Afshar Sistani. I, (1990), Sistan Nameh, vol.2, Teharn, Morghe Amen.
3. Afshar Sistani. I, (1993), Chabahar and Pars Sea, Zahedan, Sedighi.
4. Afshar Sistani. I, (2010), Alam dynasty and colonial policies in Eastern regions of Iran, Tehran, Publishing and Research Centre of ghalam e Ashena.
5. Agheli. B, (2006), Description of Iranian political and military figures, Tehran, Goftar publication, p 48
6. Hashemi Rafasanjani. A, (1967), Amir Kabir or the hero of struggle against colonialism,
Ghom, Farahani, p 510.
7. Mahmoud, M. (1967), History of political relations between Iran and Britain in the 19th century. Volume III, Tehran, Iqbal, p. 953.
8. Mojtahedzadeh.P, (2007), little players in the big game, translated by: Ahmadi.A, Tehran,
Moein.
9. Piri. M, (2010), the history of Sistan during the Qajar era, Mashhad, Sonboleh.
10. Raeisi Toosi. R, (2006), the burnt land of diplomacy of Britain in Sistan, Tehran, Gameh
nav.
11. Raesitoosi.R, (2006), the burnt land, Tehran, Game Nav, p 72.
12. Ravandi. M, (1987), Social History of Iran. Volume IV, Tehran, Amirkabir, P 57.
13. Soon, H, (1976), Iranian deserts, Translation: Parviz Rajabi, Tehran, Tuka, p. 175.
14. Zavsh, H, M, (1987), the first colonial administrators, Tehran, Bahar Publications, p. 120.
IJSER © 2015 http://www.ijser.org