IOR/L/PS/5/228, ff 50-59

This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a secret despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secret Committee, Number 31 of 1856, dated 30 July 1856. The enclosures are numbered 3-7 and are dated 4-23 July 1856.

The enclosures chiefly comprise: letters between Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob, Acting Commissioner in Sind [Sindh], and the Secretary to the Government of India; and a Minute by the Governor-General of India.

The enclosures relate to intelligence acquired by Jacob, via Captain William Lockyer Merewether, Acting Political Superintendent Frontier of Upper Sind, and the Vakeel [Vakil, also spelled Wukeel in this item] of the Khan of Kelat [Khān of Kalat], that the territory of the Khan, an ally of Britain, is being threatened by Persia [Iran] owing to: Persian forces having arrived in the country of ‘Jelluk’ [Jaleq, contemporaneously called ‘Jalk’ by the British] and ‘Doruck’ [Deruk?] on the northern frontier of Mekran [Makran]; and Persians having taken the revenue of the country of ‘Bowah’ [unidentified location, also spelled Bawah in this item] which belongs to the Khan.

In response to Jacob’s request for instructions, the Governor-General indicates that the Government of India has no treaty obligation to aid the Khan of Kelat against Persia. He adds, however, that in the context of the Persian army currently at Herat and the potential longer-term threat to British possessions in India via Kalat, Jacob is granted authority to assist the Khan with arms and money in the case of an unprovoked Persian aggression on that Ruler’s territory.