مجموعة ٣٤/٤ "الرِق: الخليج الفارسي: تقارير عنه؛ موقف الحكومة البريطانية" [و‎‎٢‎٩] (٧١٦/٥٧)

Copy of a letter No. 66-5/191-lil» dated Bushire»
the 12th January 1928, from the Hon’hie the Political Resident
in the Persian Gulf, to the Foreignto the Government
In continuation of my letter No.T.17, dated the 17th
December 1927, on the subject of the statement of the Assistant
Public Prosecutor, Karachi, regarding the prevalence of slave,
traffic in the Persian Gulf, I have the honour to state that
the statement in question was made on two grounds.
1. The'few cases of which reports have been made to
me and in Vhich I have taken actionj(The case on trial
in the Karachi Courts was in connection with a boy
whose freedom I had obtained from the Arab Coast. I
have in the past year obtained the freedom of three
such boys who had been kidnapped from Karachi and I
have news of one other only whom up to date I have been
unable to trace.)
2. The statement of the freed slave made in Karachi tc the
effect that he had been 15 or 16 such boys when employed
on the pearl banks.
As regards No.l s A few individual cases occur and as will
be seen we have through the Residency Agent at Shargah recovered
three out of four boys whose disappearance has been reported
to us.
With regard to ground No.2: I think the statement is
an exaggeration. There may be individual cases of which we do
not hear, but they can only be rare.
&
I am nevertheless instructing all ^onsuls and the
Political Agents of Bahrain and Kuwait to have careful enquiries
made into the matter.
I have only received reports of five Baluchis being sold
during the previous year; while my reports cannot possibly keep
trace of all the sales from Persian Baluchistan to the Batineh
Coast they are sufficient to show that, though individual cases
occur,