'File 19/165 III (C 24) Bahrain Reforms' [‎82r] (166/426)

12. This is a matter of opfnion. * Any intelligent person ^however cannot fail
to see a vast improvement. Even Bin Saud (who officiaJly opposes the reforms
and supports Shaikh Isa as the protagonist of islam) admitted in private conver
sation with a recent visitor to Hassa that the state of the Islands has vastly im
proved while the Shaikhs are better off finanacially than they ■ever were before.
13. Comment unnecessary.
14. Agitation by some members of the Shiah minority." The Shiahs are in
a very large majority and there is not one who has not a grievance against Shaikh
Isa's maladministration and oppression— vide m<er aZia Bushire Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. letters
]Sos. 495-S., dafced 30th December 1921 and 24-S., dated 6th January 1922 (Serial
Nos. 1 and 3 in File No. 82, Nos. 1-32). " Covetous eyes Pearl Fishery.'*
Shaikh Isa omits to thank the British Government for having prevented the
owners of the s^Aid covetous eyes from possessing themselves of the fishery ; many
attempts to do so having been made in the past and frustrated by the British
Government in the interests of the Shaikh. The sentences following are rhetori
cal and require no comment. The sentence " Up to the present moment
from me " is absolutely contrary to fact. Successive Political Agents
and Residents have grown weary with repeated (and unavailing) efforts to get
Shaikh Isa to set his house in order. The Shaikh emphatically denies his incapacity
to manage the affairs of his State : both his sons Shaikh Hamad and Shaikh
Abdulla (although hostile to Shaikh Hamad) admit their father's total incapacity:
the number of people (except certain members of the A1 Khalifa lamily and others
enabled to do as they pleased by reason of it) who endorse Shaikh Isa's opinion
must be very small. His incapacity is notorious and has been so for years.
15. In the circumstances a formal trial of the Shaikh would hardly have been
possible. The statement in the last sentence is not in accordance with fact.
16. It is hardly necessary to state that the vast majority of the people
never had the smallest voice in the internal affairs of Bahrain ; the Dowasir tr be
aad a section of the influential Sunni nokhudas ignored the Government and did
what they liked while the Shiah population and all the weak were tyrannized
over by it. The Shaikh has again ignored the obligation to govern properly.
The rest of the paragraph is mainly rhetorical.
17. Comment on this seems hardly necessary. Bushire letter No. 42-S.,
dated 27th January 1923 (Serial No. 37 in File xNo. 82-X.) set forth the pros and
cons of undertaking the reforms at? length and foretold that to introduce them
the deposition of Shaikh Isa would be necessary. Government however decided to
proceed with the reforms, so that in the circumstances the blame for the Shaikh's
deposition (if any) does not lie with the " consular authorities concerned."
R. I. M. S. " L awrence ," A. P. TEVOR,
Lieut.-Col.,
The 22nd March 1924. Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
ANNEXURE.
E nglish version of telegraphic message (contained in B ushire telegram
N o. 947, dated the 26 th O ctober 1923, to P olitical A gent, B ahrain),
rom the P olitical R esident in the P ersian G ulf in reply to
petitions from B ahrain (referred to in paragraph 8 of C omments).
" As it appears from petition; I have received and other sources that people
are in doubt as regards the continuity of policy regarding reforms, I, Colonel, A. P.
Trevor, hereby inform a d make it clear to all people in Bahrain that Hi > Majesty's
Government after exhaustive enquiry decided last May that condition of affairs
in Bahrain Islands urgently demanded reform and therefore ordered reforms to be
initiated. Be it known therefore that the orders of Government will be carried
out and the policy of reform recently initiated pursued without deviation.'