Mehmed Ali and Ibrahim blamed officers, not duties, for desertion

Evidence

Desertion was not a matter of individual isolated cases that the authorities succeeded in limiting and controlling; it was a phenomenon that continued to irk the authorities because of its frequency and magnitude, as attested to by the fact that the regiments’ scribes were given pre-printed tables with “noksan,” i.e. missing, as one of their standard headings. Seeing these reports, both Mehmed Ali and his son were alarmed at the scale of the problem. Ibrahim rejected the officers’ claim that it was the increased duties of the soldiers that prompted them to desert. He said that this was a mere pretext and that desertion was more due to the laxity and carelessness of the officers. His father was of a similar opinion. He wrote to the Director of his War Department telling him that he had seen reports of the various regiments and that all suffered from desertion. There was, however, one exception, the 18th Infantry Regiment, which he took to be proof that desertion could be prevented. He therefore suggested that the colonels of the other regiments be court martialled. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1345