ملف رقم ٣٢٠٨ لسنة ١٩٠٨، جزء ٤، "الخليج الفارسي: أعمال قرصنة قام بها أحمد بن سلمان بالقرب من القطيف [الإهانة التركية تجاه قائد السفينة الملكية "لابوينج" في القطيف]" [و‎‎١‎٥‎٩] (٣٥٨/٣١٣)

5
be to send a boat expedition to punish the villages from which the pirates
embarked. r
3. The Government of India have decided, in view of the time which has
elapsed since the occurrence of these piracies, and of certain pre*occupations in
other parts of the Persian Gulf, that active measures for the exaction of redress
^ from the Sheikh of Ll-Katr or irom the offending villages cannot now be wisely
or profitably undertaken, and that the cases must be allowed to drop. Having
regard, however, to the language held by Colonel Meade to the Sheikh in Nov
ember 1899, the Government of India have come to their present decision with
reluctance, and they cannot but regret thnt, owing to the want of definite
proposals from two successive Political Residents, the opportunity for exacting
full and timely reparation for th.ese outrages should have been allowed to pass.
In the opinion of the Government of India, some speedy measures of redress
should be adopted in future if such outrages are repeated ; and, in the event
of any fresh case of piiacy occurring off the El-Jvatr peninsula, the Political
Resident should^ not only cause the property of the Katr Chief in Bahrein to
be attached until redress is given, but should also submit proposals at once for
a boat expedition against the villages immediately concerned, if that appears
to be the best and most effective method of inflicting punishment and enforcing
reparation.
No. 28 S.A., dated Shiraz, the 13th September 1902.
From— Lieutenant-Colonel C. A. Kemball, Officiating Political Resident in the
Persian Gulf,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
In continuation of the correspondence ending with your letter No. 294-E.A.,
dated 6 th February 1902, I have the honour to report, for the information of
the Government of India, the recrudescence of acts of piracy, in the vicinity of
El Katr and Bahrein, committed by a party of Beni Hajir Arabs under the
leadership of one Ahmad-bin-Selman, a notorious bad character.
2. Early in July this man succeeded in stealing a boat from Seihat, but
stress of weather on July 19th drove him back to a point north of Ojair, on
hearing of which the inhabitants of Seihat sent an armed boat party against
him obliging him to abandon his craft and flee ashore.
3. Some days later Ahmad and his gang stole a boat at Senalis with which
they crossed to the island of Um Nasan, and on August 4th captured a Bahrein
dhow of 28 tons burden which was lying there to load lime for Bahrein, by
means of which dhow some ten days later they waylaid and robbed another
Bahrein boat, off Thaein in the Katr Peninsula, of its entire gear and utensils as
well as of cash and pearls, the property of a trader on board, to the total value
of some $5,400, and then proceeded to Dohat Thalum in Thahran, south of
Katif, in Turkish territory, where they landed with their plunder.
4. The Assistant Political Agent, Bahrein, informs me that Ahmad-bin-
Selman, of whose nationality I am not yet aw r are, had been residing recently at
Sweisima in El Katr territory, where his family now is, and as these piracies
seem to have occurred in hi Kar waters, while some of the property plundered
from the first Bahrein boat was disposed of at places under the jurisdiction of
the Sheikh of El Katr, it seems a case to apply the orders conveyed in paragraph
3 of your letter above quoted, and I have instructed the Assistant Political
Agent accordingly, who, I may mention, had already warned Sheikh Ahmad-bin-
Thani that he would be held responsible and had also requested the Kaimma-
kam of Katif to co-operate in suppressing Ahmad and his gang.
5. His Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Basrah has been requested to move
the Wali to send strict orders to his subordinates to take energetic measures
and informs me that he has done so, and the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf,
is arranging at my request to depute a gunboat to Bahrein with a view to con
certing measures, either by means of a boat expedition or otherwise to put down
this gang.
6 . I have not considered it advisable to accede to a request of Sheikh Isa
of Bahrein that he might be permitted to despatch an expedition against