'File 38/17 Delimitation of Trucial state boundaries and Petroleum Concession Limited's Concession Areas on the Trucial Coast' [‎22r] (44/225)

secret .
D.O.Nc.C/2??.
POLITICAL AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ,
BAHRAIN,
Dated 12th April, 1948.
Dear Sir Rupert,
I shall of course be glad to discuss Burrow^
letter, a copy of which was forwarded with your endorse
ment No,692-S, dated the 31st March, 1948, at any time,
but, as the case is an important one, I an afraid I have
to add to the writing about it.
2. As far as I am aware there is no active dispute »
about the boundaries between Muscat and Has al Khaimah
or Muscat and Kalba. The limit of Muscat's jurisdiction
in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. el Qaur was described in the enclosure to my
printed letter No.C/163, dated the 5th February, 1948,
and the boundary between Muscat and Kalba is established
at Khatam Malahah and is marked by a stone wall. I en
close copies of two original documents now in the pos
session of the present Shaikh of Sharjah, with translations.
You will observe that in 1268 Hijri (99 years ago) Sai'd
bin Sultan of Muscat renounced all intention of interfering
with the tribes subject to Jawassim influence in the area
from Khatam Malahah westwards and northwards to the Dhahirah
In 1268 Kijri Turk! bin Sai'd reiterated his father's under
takings to the Jawassim, but made an exception of Khassab.
The Muscat claim to suzerainty over the Beni Ka'ab and
the Nai'm of Burami (including the Al Bu Shamis) appears
to be of more recent origin, because the present Shaikh
of Sharjah claims that in 1268 Hijri the Jawassim were
paramount over all the tribes of Buraimi. Had Muscat
at that time any suzerainty over these tribes presumably
it would have been mentioned in these documents, as Khassab
was. In 1908 A.D. Lorimer (pages 963 and 1302, Volume II)
found the Beni Ka'ab distributed between the Oman Sultanate
and Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , and the Nai'm in both these areas as
well as in Independant Oman; but he does not say under
whose suzerainty they were at that time. If Muscat have
since rejected the documents in the possession of the
Shaikh of Sharjah and no longer recognize the boundary at
Khatam Malahah, now would appear to be the time to start
settling the boundary again. Jackson suggested that we
should obtain statements of the boundaries claimed for
Has al Khaimah and Kalba from the prospective Shaikh and
Regent, and I think we should recognize only those that
are undisputed and leave the rest without prejudice for
settlement by negotiation with Muscat.
3. The Shihuh recognize Muscat's suzerainty but the
Shaikhs of Bakha and Fujairah do not.
4
The Hon'ble Sir Rupert Hay, KCIE, CSI,
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. ,
B_A_H_R_A_I_N.