IOR/L/PS/5/449, ff 30-38

This item comprises a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 3 of 1847, dated 9 January 1847. The enclosure is dated 27 November 1846.

The primary document is a despatch from Major Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], forwarding, for the information of the Government of Bombay and the Governor-General of India, copies of his communications to Henry Wellesley, HM Minister Plenipotentiary at Constantinople [Istanbul], reporting on affairs in the Bagdad Pachalic [Baghdad Pashalik].

The papers cover the following matters:

• The punishment of the Persian [Iranian] troops who forced the gate at Kerbela [Karbala] the previous spring (1846) and the reparation and apology offered to Nejib Pashah, Pasha of Bagdad [Muḥammad Najīb Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad], by the Persian Government, which was delayed on its passage to Bagdad due to the quarantine measures imposed by Mohib Ali Khan [Muḥibb ʿAlī Khān], Governor of Kermanshah
• The serious disturbances in the southern part of the province of Kermanshah requiring Mohib Ali Khan to lead a force there, and so delaying the ‘tranquilisation’ of the Turco-Persian frontiers during the forthcoming winter
• The problems at Bagdad subsequent to passport regulations being applied to Persian pilgrims (to Karbala) by the Turkish [Ottoman] Government, including: delays in issuing passports due to the large number of pilgrims; disagreement between Nejib Pasha and the Persian Consul over the proportion of Persian pilgrims entitled to free passports following the (unverified) order of the [Ottoman] Porte to grant them to poorer pilgrims; Nejib Pasha’s objection to the Persian Consul issuing passports to Persian pilgrims on the basis that Russian ‘Mahomedans’ [Muslims] from Georgia with Russian passports are not restricted, and his threats to repudiate the right of all Persian pilgrims to passports if the practice continues
• Rawlinson’s report on a conference he attended between Nejib Pasha and the Persian Consul, largely consisting of the Consul’s complaints about the infringement of Persian rights and Nejib Pasha’s responses, in relation to: a Persian nobleman of high rank who was deprived of his arms on his visit to Kerbella [Karbala] during the summer; the enlistment of Persian refugee soldiers in the Turkish army; frontier matters including the ‘depredations’ by frontier tribes; the Turkish guard ship off Mohamerah [Khorramshahr, formerly Mohammerah] which the Consul claims is impeding the trade of that place; and Persian intentions to facilitate the passage of their pilgrims journeying to Kerbela across the rivers Diala [Diyala] and Euphrates at cost-price in order to counter the expensive charges of the company contracted by the Turkish Government.