HC Deb 02 February 1893 vol 8 cc251-2
MR. GIBSON BOWLES

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information respecting the armed occupation on 24th July last, by Russian troops of Somatash, on the Alichur Pamir, and of the attack then made by these troops upon the Afghan post occupying that place, in which fifteen Afghans were killed, and the rest taken prisoners by the Russians; and whether any Convention exists between Great Britain and Russia to settle the sovereignty over those parts of the Pamirs claimed by Afghanistan or by China?

SIR E. GREY

Her Majesty's Government have information that a collision took place between Afghan and Russian troops in the vicinity of Somatash, but they have no reliable details as to which party provoked the conflict or as to the number of killed and wounded on either side. The arrangements made with Russia in 1872–73 with regard to Afghanistan were laid before Parliament in 1873. No subsequent agreement has yet been arrived at with Russia in regard to the districts in question. But the subject is at the present moment under discussion between the two Governments.

MR. GIBSON BOWLES

Does not a Convention exist settling the sovereignty?

SIR E. GREY

No Convention exists except that laid before Parliament in 1873, and the exact limits and scope of that Convention constitute one of the points under discussion between the two Governments.