IOR/L/PS/12/3445

Papers concerning the issue of licenses and visas for Persian and Indian lorry drivers operating between Duzdap [Zahedan] in the East Persian province of Sistan, and Nok Kundi in British Baluchistan [in present-day Pakistan]. The licenses were issued by the Governments of Persia [Iran] and India.

The correspondence includes: reports of social unrest in the border region between Persia and British Baluchistan from 1934 to 1936; the Persian military’s commandeering of lorries driven by Indians for the purposes of transporting Persian troops and provisions; reports of the ‘ill-treatment’ of some Indian drivers by the Persian military; compensation claims made by the British Government against the Persian Government, on behalf of Indian drivers who were injured or killed while driving through dangerous areas; discussion between the British and Persian Governments about the Anglo-Persian Treaty of 1857, and the entitlement of British subjects in Persia to ‘most-favoured nation treatment’.

The file’s principal correspondents include: HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran, Reginald Hervey Hoare, Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugesson; the British Consul at Sistan and Kain [Ka’īn], Clive Kirkpatrick Daly; the Foreign Department of the Government of India; the Governor General and Chief Commissioner in Baluchistan.

The file contains several items of correspondence and newspaper cuttings in French, and a single item in Persian.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.