Supplementary Paper on the Qizilbash Faction in Kabul
SUPPLEMENTARY PAPER ON THE PERSIAN FACTION IN CABOOL.
To W.H. MACNAGHTEN, Esquire,
Secretary to the Government of India,
Fort William.
Sir,
In a communication addressed to you on the 14th
of October last, I had the honor to state for the information of the Right
Honorable the Governor General of India in Council, the result of my enquiries
regarding the power of the Kuzzilbash or Persian faction in Affghanistan. I
have now the honor to report an overture which was made to me by this party,
and which appears calculated to throw further light on their influence.
2. Since our reaching Cabool the Persian party, as I
have noticed in several of my despatches, have been naturally chagrined, and I have
had little opportunity of communicating with them, though I have a personal
acquaintance with Khan Sheeren Khan their Chief, who invited me to his house
when last in Cabool. One individual however Naib Mahomed Shureef, a Kuzzilbash
merchant of some property and respectability, with whom I travelled from
Peshawer to Cabool in 1832, sought an early renewal of our acquaintance, and
invited me to his country-house, where I passed a day with him.
3. When this gentleman visited me, a few days ago, he
took the opportunity of making it a political, as well as a friendly interview.
He stated to me that Khan Sheeren Khan had been displaced with him for not
inviting him to the party at his house, and, that, as he had lost the
opportunity of conversing with me, and did not like to come to the Bala Hissar,
he had charged him (Mahomed Shureef) to assure me how anxious the Kuzzilbashes
of Cabool were to serve the British Government, and that they should not be left
out in any arrangement which it might contemplate in this country; that the
Kuzzilbashes had always exercised great power in Cabool, that they were an
independent body, and only wanted a head to be as great as ever; that the
Affghans hated them for their creed, but that they had been yet able to keep
their own, that they were indebted to Shah Mahomed and his Vizier Futteh Khan,
for some of the protection they enjoyed, which had inclined them to the present
Ameer, whose mother was of their tribe, that this circumstance had made him
Ruler of Cabool, and the greatest man in Afghanistan, while his brother,
Sooltan Mahomed Khan, from adhering to the Affghans, to the sons of Meer Waeez,
&c. was now a servant of the Sikhs, that their services had been ill-requited,
since their pay was reduced, and Dost Mahomed Khan sowed dissensions among them
by his Kuzzilbash influence, which prevented their doing anything; that their
position in Cabool was dangerous, and that if a piece of ground at a distance
could be got for them, they would build a fort on it, bridle the Ameer, and all
future Rulers, and prove of eminent service to British interests in this
quarter; as besides their own power, they could command the Huzaras, who were
Sheahs, also the Ghiljees, who were more friendly to them than the Dooranees,
and that the 5,000 horse they could now turn out, might be increased to 40,000
with such aid, if they were cherished and protected.
4. In reply to this long messages, and observation, I
informed Naib Mahomed Shureef, that I was well aware of the influence which the
Kuzzilbashes had possessed in this country from the days of Nadir, and that he
must so assure Khan Sheeren Khan, but of course I did not enter into the
details which he had sketched, but requested he would thank the Chief for his
friendly overtures.
5. The declaration of the Kuzzilbashes, as above
given, seems to me to possess peculiar interest and value at this time, since
we have in it the light in which they view themselves; much of what is said is
clearly correct, but the policy of allowing such a body of men to build a fort
outside Cabool is obviously what no ruler, who was an Affghan, would submit to,
and what no foreign power, Persia excepted, would countenance, if it wished to
turn the resources of this country to its own ends; with Persia, however, the
course would be altogether different, for such, probably would be the very
first result of a successful invasion by that power, since it would be
productive of manifest and permanent advantage to her. At one time Timour Shah
could not, without a special license of the Moollahs, marry a Kuzzilbash lady
from their being held in the light of slaves of the King (Ghoolam I Shah), but
no such objection would now be raised since their relative position towards the
ruler is altered. While the King of Persia therefore has his thoughts so
earnestly directed to the countries eastward, the more the influence of the
Kuzzilbashes faction, as it now exist, is proved, the more dangerous does it
appear to the well being of this country, and the tranquility of the states
bordering on the Indus.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) ALEX. BURNES,
Cabool, 5th December, 1837. On a Mission to
Cabool.
ABSTRACT.
Captain Burnes on a mission to Cabool, reports an
overture from the Kuzzilbash or Persian faction in Cabool, illustrative of
their hopes, fears, and feelings, which are expressed in a very interesting
message from Khan Sheeren Khan their Chief, states the value to be attached to
them, showing the exact power which the Kuzzilbashes consider themselves to
possess, and that in his own opinion, while the King of Persia continues to
direct his attention to the countries eastward, this faction in most dangerous
to the well being of the states bordering on the Indus.
(Signed) ALEX. BURNES,
On a Mission to Cabool.
(True Copy.)
H. TORRENS
Deputy Secretary to Govt. of India, with the Governor
General.
Reports and Papers, Political, Geographical, & Commercial Submitted
to Government by Alexander Burnes, Lieutenant Leech, Doctor Lord, and
Lieutenant Wood, Employed on Missions in the Years 1835-36-37 in Scinde,
Affghanisthan, and Adjacent Countries. — Calcutta: G.H. Huttmann, Bengal
Military Orphan Press, 1839, pp. 12—13.
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