"السيطرة السياسية في الخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٥] (٤/٢)

. - .V:
* Para. 3 of 0.0. Dosp. 13
to Pol. Res., April 15 1924,
P. 1836/24. '
Paras. 4 and 5 of C.O. Desp.
13 to Pol. Res., April 15
1924, P. 1836/24.
I.O. to C.O., May 29 1923,
P. 1760.
C.O. to I.O., June 7 1923,
P. 2171.
G.O. to I.O., Mar. 24 1924,
P. 1441.
and His Majesty’s Consul-General, Busliire, who was, as hitherto, to be found
from the service of the Government of India. The position of the Resident
vis-d-vis the Government of India on the Persian littoral of the Gulf^ (in
which area he had, of course, at all times worked in very close relations
with His Majesty’s Minister at Tehran) and in Muscat, remained unaffected.
4. While the formal concurrence of the Government of India in the
recommendations of the Masterton-Smith" Committee has not been given
owing to the necessity of disposing of the connected question of Aden, they
have agreed to work provisionally on the lines which the Committee
recommended, and it may be said that, broadly speaking, the aii alignments
approved by the Masterton-Smith Committee, so far as division of
responsibility was concerned, have been in operation since 19-1. Some
discussion took place in 1922—h on the question whether communications
with Ibn Sand should take place through the Political Agent, Bahrein,
rather than through the Political Resident at Bushire. The arrangement
finally reached between the Colonial Office and India Office was that
communications from His Majesty’s Government as regards, and with, Ibn
Saud and Nejd when sent through the Persian Gulf should pass through the
Political Resident except in cases of a wdiolly exceptional character and of
very great urgency ; that the same should hold good in the case of Koweit
(the internal administration and affairs of which were to remain a matter for
the Government of India); that in the case of Bahrein, the India Office should
continue to be the normal channel for the communication of the instructions
of His Majesty’s Government on matters of policy ; that orders on a question
involving both relations with Ibn Saud and local action or interests in
Bahrein, should be prepared in consultation between the India Office and
Colonial Office and should issue (probably) through the India Office to the
Resident, but that in circumstances of a wholly exceptional character, the
Colonial Office might communicate direct with the officers subordinate to
the Resident who were in direct contact with Ibn Saud and the Sheikh of
Koweit; and on a minor point, that questions affecting the development
of the oil resources of the Arab littoral should for convenience be dealt with
exclusively by the Colonial Office. The position as regards the Trucial
Sheikhs and the Islands in the Gulf under the suzerainty of those Sheikhs
has not been precisely defined, but, broadly speaking, it would seem to be
similar to that in the case of Bahrein, and in dealing with the recent
incident at Tamb the instructions of His Majesty’s Government were
communicated to the Political Resident through the India Office and the
Government of India.
5. The general effect of these arrangements is that the Political Resident
is directly responsible to, and corresponds directly with, His Majesty’s
Government (as represented by the Colonial Office) on questions affecting
Ibn Saud, except when he is in the Hejaz, and the political aspects of the
Arab littoral of the Gulf: that he is directly responsible in his capacity as
Consul-General, Bushire, to the Foreign Office ; and acts as a liaison between
the Minister at Tehran and affairs in the Gulf which are of interest to
His Majesty’s Government as affecting their relations with Persia; that
he is directly responsible to the Government of India for the internal
affairs of the various States on the Arab littoral, for Bahrein, the Trucial
Sheikhdoms, and Muscat, and for keeping them in touch both with affairs
generally in South Persia and the Gulf, and with developments vis-d-vis
Persia in that area, which, from the large Indian interests represented in
it and its strategic importance, is of the first importance from the standpoint
of the Government of India. The responsibility for co-ordinating action in
times of stress in the Gulf inevitably and naturally falls on the Political
Resident, who is alone sufficiently closely in permanent touch with the
political, strategic and commercial interests involved adequately to discharge
this function, and on whom accordingly the immediate responsibility must
fall, in consultation with the Air Officer Commanding, Iraq, the Senior Naval
Officer, Persian Gulf, or the Government of India as the case may be, for a
decision as to the points at which the assistance of naval, military or air
units should be asked from the appropriate naval or air authority, or from
the Government of India.