Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The report of Alexander Burnes about the Qizilbashes of Afghanistan (Alexander Burnes, 1837)

The report of Alexander Burnes about the Qizilbashes of Afghanistan




(No. 45.)
From Captain Alexander Burnes, on a Mission to Cabool, to W.H. Macnaghten, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India, Fort William.
Sir,
I have now the honour to report the result of my inquiries on the subject of Persian influence in Cabool, and the exact power which the Kuzzilbash (or Persian) party, resident in this city, exercise over the politics of Affghanistan. Since any ascendancy on the part of Persia, or her allies in this quarter, must either have its origin, or be chiefly brought about by means of the Persian faction in the country, it becomes highly important to note the history of these tribes, their rise, progress, and present condition.
2. In the beginning of last century the feebleness of the Persian monarchy excited the cupidity of the Afghans, who overran the fairer portion of that kingdom, and possessed themselves of Ispahan. Their successes called forth the energies of the great Nadir, who not only drove the Afghans from Persia, but annexed against India, with an army of Persians and Afghans, sacked it, precisely and hundred years ago. During these wars the conqueror deemed it politic to fix some native tribes in the lands he had subdued, and to this policy we owe the colony of Persians now settled in Cabool, which, when first located, amounted to less than 2,000 families.
3. The people composing it consist of three divisions: 1st, the Juwansheer; 2nd, the Ufsheers; and 3rd, the Mooradkhanees, the whole being designated by the general name of Goolam Khanee, or Ghoolam i Shah, servants of the king. The Juwansheers are a clan of Toorks from Sheeshu. There are various divisions included among them, such as the Koort, the Shah Sumund, the Syah Munsoor, &c., and they form the principal portion of the Kuzzilbashes. They consist 2,500 families, and occupy a separate quarter of Cabool, called the Chandoul, which is surrounded by high walls. Their chief is Khan Sheereen Khan. The Ufshurs are also Toorks, and of the tribe to which Nadir himself belonged. There are 300 families of them who live in a strong fort about three miles from Cabool, under Ghoolam Hoosein Khan. The last division, the Moorad Khanee, is comprised of all the Persians who have from time to time settled in this country. 1,500 families of them reside together under Mihr Alli Khan and five other chiefs. Besides these, there are 700 others in the fort of the Byats, a division of the tribe under Mahomed Khan. It will be thus seen that there are at this time 4,000 Kuzzilbash families in Cabool, from which a force of from 4,000 to 5,000 men could be levied on an emergency for the purposes of war. The number has been generally considered greater than this detailed statement, but the whole of the Shiah population in and about Cabool is then included in the calculation, and among these the Huzaras would furnish twice as many men as the Persians.

4. On Nadir Shah’s assassination, many of the Persians fled from Cabool to their native country, but Ahmed Shah Dooranee, who succeeded to the authority of Nadir, conciliated a portion of them whom he retained in his pay and found of eminent service throughout his active reign, in which they became an organized body, acting under a Khan who was directly responsible to the Shah, while the Kuzzilbashes themselves only acknowledged their own chief. Matters seem to have continued in this state for about 53 years, during which the Persians acquired such power that the kings found it necessary to favour them by large stipendiary allowances, granted, in some instances, even to minors; and, as the Sudozye monarchy declined, their support became indispensable to the Juwansheers was put to death, and from that time a want of confidence in the kings of Cabool, on the part of the Kuzzelbashes, is to be traced till they almost cease to appear as a body in the affairs of the state. The superior intelligence possessed by all Persians readily befits them for employment among the Afghans, and from war many became secretaries (Meerzas) and stewards (nazirs) to the different chiefs; others took to agriculture and merchandise, and some are at present shopkeepers in Cabool. It would at one time have been dangerous to entertain any Persians without their Khan’s permission; but with the loss of military employment, or rather withdrawal from it, their pay ceased, and the growing wants of many drove them to the occupations which I have stated, though a portion of them have always continued in the service of the ruler of Cabool, as is the case at the present time.
5. Since the whole of the Persians in Cabool are Shiahs, and the national persuasion of the Afghans is Soonnee, the position of the Kuzzilbashes was full of danger; it was at any time possible to turn political dispute into religious difference, and there are various instances in the history of the Cabool monarchy in which these have threatened their very existence. Of late these fears have not been diminished, and since the overthrow of the monarchy the walls which surround the Juwansheer quarter of the city have been heightened and improved, and I observe alterations even since 1832. At one time they were not afraid to live outside of the city, but common interest has now led the whole of the Persians to congregate together as the best means of warding off danger. They would have willingly left the city of Cabool and fixed themselves at a distance, like the Ufshurs, in a detached fort; but this they have found impossible, and their situation in the Chundool, or quarter of the Juwansheers, is now so completely commanded that an infuriated population might readily overpower them. The Persians themselves are therefore intently bent on adding to their own strength by intrigues around them, and though their military influence has declined, their power in this way is more considerable than before; since every man of rank has Persians for his secretaries, and all the home and foreign correspondence is in their hands, by which their influence ramifies in every direction.
6. The Persians of Cabool attached themselves to the vizier, Futteh Khan, and fought against Persia in his Herat campaign. They have long sought for a master who would consolidate them, as in former times, and they have, at times, entered into correspondence with Shah Shooja, but they have especially attached themselves to the vizier’s brother, the present ruler of Cabool, and with the greater avidity, as his mother was of their tribe. Dost Mahomed Khan availed himself to the fullest extent of their support, and it was long considered by many that he was even favourable to Shiah doctrines; but he has either had the discrimination to see that these would be fatal to supremacy among his countrymen, or never in sincerity entertained them. This he proclaimed to the world, when about four years ago he took the title of Ameer, which has religious signification, and from that time the Kuzzilbashees have ceased to centre their hopes in him. He himself has also withdrawn much of his confidence from the party, reduced the number of those in his pay to about 1,000 or 1,200 persons, and part of their salaries he has retrenched. The headmen receive about 58,000 rupees per annum, and the total derivable from to State by the rest may amount to about a lac of rupees, each horseman receiving 84 rupees per annum. Even in public he does not conceal his contempt for their creed: and, what is perhaps more bitterly felt, his avowed opinions of their wanting courage in the field, as exhibited in his campaigns with the ex-king at Candahar, and lately at Peshawar. In the former instance, he is stated to have placed Afghans on both flanks of the Kuzzilbashes, with secret instruction to fire on them if they fled. At Peshawar it is very certain that the party were backward in fighting; none of them were killed, and a piece of pleasantry is attributed to the Ameer, who said that he never remembered a Kuzzilbash to have fallen in his service. But Dost Mahomed Khan may have mistaken a want of inclination originating from disappointed hopes for a want of courage. Certain it is that of late he has sought to raise a body of regular troops, disciplined by Europeans; but he has hitherto completely failed, and if he consulted his interests he would seek no other support than that which he may command from the hill people about Cabool and the native Afghan tribes, who do now serve, and would willingly, on good pay, devote themselves to him. It would also undoubtedly add to his strength if he drew, at the same time, the Kuzzilbashes nearer to him; for, according to a profound political maxim, he should put it out of these men’s power to injure, before he insults them, and they may materially promote his fortunes.
7. While Persian influence is thus declining, it appears a strange contradiction to record that Dost Mahomed Khan has sought for alliance with Persia, as the best means which occurred to him to support his power. He admitted into his councils a native Persian of some talent but bad character, the Naib Abdool Sumut, who has since been disgraced and fled to Persia, and the advice of this man, with that of Mahomed Khan Byat, a Kuzzilbash, raised by him and much in his confidence, as well as that of several interested persons, induced the Ameer to seek for support from Persia, and with this has revived the hopes of the Kuzzilbash faction, though their support would probably be directed, under Persian influence, to a master who more appreciated them than Dost Mahomed Khan. The whole party see, however, in the alliance certain benefit to their own condition, and in consequence, do what in them lies to promote the intercourse. It is thus that the Persian community in Cabool have viewed the arrival of an agent of the British Government in this quarter with suspicion, if not open dissatisfaction. They would cling to the British or any power which supported them, but it is more natural that they first seek to attach themselves to the country from which they originally spring, to which they are allied by a common religion, more dear as it is rendered to them by impending danger. The Shah of Persia has not been slow in responding to Dost Mahomed Khan’s desire for an alliance; and elchee has been sent with robes and presents in return, and is now at Candahar, but he has appeared at a time most unfavourable to his master, when the attention of the British Government is directed to Afghanistan, and which goes far to discredit him with all parties, and even to damp the hopes of the Kuzzilbashes. It is even doubtful if he will advance to Cabool, and it is certain if he does so, that any offer which he may make will never be placed in the balance against those of the British Government. The King of Persia desires to add Herat to his dominions, and the Chiefs of Candahar and Cabool might certainly aid him in his designs, but the probabilities of a return for such good offices are more dubious; and it is this which inclines the Chiefs of Afghanistan, of Cabool in particular, to seek to improve their intimacy with the British Government. It is nearer to them, far more powerful than Persia, and with it a connexion would not be viewed by the Afghan nation in the unfavourable light which an alliance with a Shiah or a Hindoo power would certainly be in this Soonee country.
8. It is well known here that the young King of Persia has turned his earnest attention to Herat. The most outrageous conduct of the ruler and his minister, in having sold into slavery the greater part, or if not the whole Shiah population of the city, would justify any attack on the part of Persia, but I doubt the ability of that power, single-handed, to attack Herat. If she succeeds in humbling Kamran without the co-operation of the Afghan Chief, it must be through the influence of Russia, by whose counsels there can be very little doubt she is directed to Herat. Persia itself, as I have observed, has grounds for provocation, but I find Russia is not the less interested, and that she directs her attention to Herat to improve her commerce with Toorkistan, and her position in the East generally; and, it is seen, has not been dilatory in availing herself of the openings lately given by messengers from the Afghan Chiefs to the Shah, by whom her ambassador at Tehran transmitted communications. I shall reserve what I have to say regarding the commercial views of Russia in that quarter for an early and more fitting opportunity, when I come to that portion of my instructions which directs me to report on the measures adopted by that power to extend her commerce and influence in Central Asia.
9. In this country, however, the chiefs will have little mercy to except from a King of Persia, if his influence extends to Herat, and the less so if it has been established without any co-operation from them. It has been seen, too, from the state of the Kuzzilbash faction, which has been described, that they afford at all times facilities for intriguing in Cabool, and with a Persian power so near as Herat, of a nature that may soon become dangerous. The only counterpoise to it that could benefit British interests in this quarter, would spring from the favour than they now enjoy, which, since they cannot be removed from his country, would be a sound and safe policy. By pursuing it he might, perhaps, contrive to live on friendly terms with Persia, and since the party is too weak would to be turned against the native Afghan tribes, their jealousy and their fear would be alike allayed. If, on the other hand, Persian influence is allowed to be established in this country, that of Russia must follow; should the attempt of Persia prove unsuccessful, we may look for some such fate to the Kuzzilbashes in Cabool as befell the Janissaries under the Sultan Mahomed, only that it will be more certain; since those soldiers held a power in the Ottoman empire, which was never enjoyed by the Persians in this kingdom.
I have, &c.
(signed) Alex. Burnes,
Cabool, 14 October 1837. On a Mission to Cabool.
(True copy.)
(signed) H. Torrens,
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, with the Governor General.



East India (Cabul and Afghanistan) (1859)

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