The Qizilbashes of the Farah
Province in Afghanistan
The
inhabitants of Juwain consist of Afghans of the Sak-zai or Ishak-zai section,
and of Kizilbashes. The former are naturally the dominant race; but the latter
are, I hear, treated with more than ordinary consideration, lest they forsake
Juwain and emigrate to Persian Seistan, as many have already done at the
invitation of the Amir of Kain. It appears that some twelve or fifteen years
ago this district was visited by drought and famine, and the Amir of Kain then
offered the starving Kizilbash population a home and the wherewithal to live in
his own territory ― an offer they not unnaturally availed themselves of. None
of our party entered the walls of Juwain; and from the description given of its
interior by the inhabitants, I have reason to believe that we should
congratulate ourselves on this omission. A Kizilbash with whom I conversed,
complained of the injustice of the chief towards his class; but I doubt if his
statement was worthy of credit, seeing that I was informed on good authority
that, for fear of a general emigration of the Kizilbash inhabitants, the chief
was careful to check even religious differences between his own tribesmen, who
are Sunnis, and the Kizilbashes, who are Shi’ahs.
Arthur Campbell Yate — England and Russia Face to Face
in Asia: travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission, Edinburgh and London:
William Blackwood & Sons, 1887, pp. 100―101.
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