Yarahmadzai tribe

The late tribal leader "Sardar Khan Mohammad Yarahmadzai"

Sardar Jiand Khan and his tribesmen

The Yarahmadzai (Shahnavazi) is a tribe from the Iranian Balochistan, the main population of the tribe is settled in an area called Sarhad in the city of Khash. The population of the Yarahmadzais are about 30,000 and they are divided into three big factions (Sohrabzai, Hossenzai and Rahmetzai).^[1]

History

The origin of the tribe is from the hills of Sibi (located in East Balochistan) the same place where Mir Chakar Khan Rind (The great Baloch king) comes from they migrated to the Sarhad plateau somewhere during the beginning of the 18th century and since then they have expanded, increased and becoming one of the most prominent and powerful tribes of Sarhad. Before the arrival of the Yarahmadzais the area (Taftan/khash) was organized and controlled by the Kurds. The Kurds were originally sent to the Sarhad of Baluchistan by Shah Abbas the great as a part of his policy of weakening dangerous baloch tribes by removing them from their local territories. As the Yarahmadzai tribe established them in Sarhad the tribe grew larger, and become more powerful and more ambitious they were a big threat to the hakomats (representatives of the rulers) established in Iranian/Baluchistan as well in south (Bampur) as north (Taftan/Khash). The Yarahmadzai unlike the other nomadic tribes (particularly in southern Baluchistan) never recognized the hakoms of the hakomats (governed as agents of the crown they received support and encouragement from the crown) as leaders to whom they would serve. Instead they established their own political leader, the Sardar who was a representative for the tribe, several disputes occurred between the Yarahmadzais and the kurds which resulted in one time that the kurds where driven out from Sarhad and they lost the control of the area to the Yarahmadzais.^[2]

According to Percy Molesworth Sykes the Yarahmadzai became the most influential tribe under the notorious Sardar Jiand Khan of Sarhad where 50 families controlled over 1,000 families; next in importance were the Rekis who aggregate over 600 families.^[3] The major economic profit of the tribe was from predatory raiding of livestock, goods and slaves outside Sarhad, mostly from Kerman and Jiroft area.

The British Campaign in 1916

During World War I, the Yarahmadzais harassed the lines of communication of the British frontier and raided their goods, this gave some concerns to the British forces and the fact that the Germans have through Turkish agents supplied the Sarhadi tribes with weapon and promised them that they have converted to Islam. The British knew that the Sarhad route was very important for their purpose and to keep the control over India.^[4] The mission to prevent the tribes from raiding fell on General Reginald Dyer. The three major tribes who performed raids and disturbed the british line were the Yarahmadzais, Gamshadzais and Ismaelzais even known as Damanis.

According to Reginald Dyer he went to Sarhad with a small troop and he managed to keep the sarhadi tribes in line with account of campaign of arms and bluffs. Dyer used a lot of spies to obtain information about the movements of the Yarahmadzai tribe and their plans, one of the spies who Dyer was very proud over was Ido Khan Reki(Rigi) who contributed very well. Juma Khan the tribal chief of the Ismaelzais decided to surrender when he heard about the plans of Dyer, while Sardar Jiand Khan and Halil Khan (Chief of the Gamshadzai) decided to resist against the British forces. Several battles occurred between Dyer and the Damanis (Yarahmadzai, Gamshadzai) Jiand lost his son and Gamshadzais chief (Khalil Khan) got killed during one of the battles.

In a documentary that was made about baloch tribes and sardars, the late tribal leader Sardar Khan Mohammad recounts Interview from what he has been told about what happened during one of the last battles his tribe had against the british.

He tells about when Jiand khan and his son got arrested and they (british garrison) were on their march to Quetta to bring them (the hostage) into captivity when they suddenly got ambushed by the Yarahmadzais and Gamshadzais in an area called Nalak (a narrow passage nearby Khash). They managed to free them and in the battle two of the yarahmadzais lost their life’s while the losses for Dyer was devastating. Dyer himself was not present in the battle but after what happened he never showed up in sarhad. He never mentioned the battle of Nalak in his book instead he wrote about how they have succeded and weakened the sarhadi tribes and that an agreement was reached with the Yarahmadzais and Gamshadzai after that the two tribes sent letters to Dyer to allow them returning back to their home.

The story about what happened during Dyers campaign lacks credibility in Sarhad, that was one of the reasons that Abdol Hossein Yadegari an baloch intellectual (he died in an accident 2006) decided to make a research about what really happened in Dyers Campaign. Abdol Hossein Yadegari translated Dyers book with additional comments based on his research, his work was published posthumously in farsi his translation.

Pacification

Not much record exist what Sarhad was after Dyer but from was heard and been told among the tribesmen the raiding continued, or like Coleridge Kennard describes it "Just as we are preparing for the night a jambaz rider arrives from the desert to announce that a balochi raiding army, a very powerful one a thousand men ride in it is close to his heels, marching from Khwash under Shasavar Khan (Yarahmadzai)"^[5]

References

Further reading

• The raiders of the Sarhad
• Black Tents of Baluchistan Summary
• Seistan Force