TROOPS SENT TO BASRA

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 August 1946, Page 5

TROOPS SENT TO BASRA

GUARDING INTERESTS OF BRITAIN PROTEST FROM PERSIA LONDON, Aug. 3. It is officially stated in New Delhi that troops are being sent from Ima to Basra to safeguard British and Indian interests in South Persia, should circumstances demand it. There are many hundreds of Indians employed in the oilfields and refineries in South Persia. India is largely dependent on this source lor her vital supplies of petrol. An addition to the official statement said there Was no question of troops going into Persia, except m case m a grave emergency, which it was hoped would not occur. The Persian Government has issued a communique on the sending of British troops to Basra, stating:’ In accordance with the United Nations Charter, stipulations on Persia’s independence and sovereignty, the Persian Government will never permit foreign interference in Persian national affairs.” . The communique ordered Persian officials not accredited to the Foreign Office to cease immediately social and other relations with all embassies. “The sending of troops to Basra for the protection of British, Indian, and Arab lives and to safeguard British and Indian interests, is a precautionary move against a possible breakdown of law and order m the event of further industrial trouble at the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s fields,” says the political correspondent of the Daily Express. He adds that the Indian Government acted after consultation with the British Cablndia Office in London stated that there was no question of troops going into Persia. “The death penalty for waste ol public funds is prescribed in a ninepoint programme for the new Persian Government, which has been issued as a communique,” says Reuter’s Teheran correspondent. “Law, agricultural, education, and economic reforms, and full employment are aims of the new programme.” MOVE IN ACCORD WITH TREATY (Rec. 2.30 p.m.) BAGHDAD, August 4. A Government communique states that the British decision to send British troops to replace those in Shiaba (a British base near Basra), from which -it had decided, .to . withdraw, was in accordance with the annexe to the Anglo-Iraqi.treaty of alliance, ' and the Iraqi Government expressed ■ its agreement with it.: ■ ; - It was stated that.. the number ot troops being sent was. a British sec- ’ ret, but that the forces, would be in accordance with the treaty. The matter was routine only.,