'Status of the Islands of Tamb, Little Tamb, Abu Musa, and Sirri' [‎24v] (4/8)

* P. 737/04.
t F.O. to I.O.,
April 23 1904 : l.O.
to F.O., May 4 1904,
P 2559/04 *
lOn the 9 8t.k April 1888 the Resident communicated to the Minister
lo. On tlu ~ I t i tion of a report drawn up locally lor the
at 1 eh ® ra o 1 , a t | ; ' 0p ; vhich he had obtained privately, relative to the Persian
Amin-es-Sultan, it nothing fresh in this report beyond a
ira J pX?>.K .d jl .- »-«. *.
Resident “ haa no justification whatever.” In the summer oi the same year
tomu tnim the linister telegraphed to Bttshire that a reply had now been
received from the Persian Government that “as the Jowasmn Sheikhs were
Persian Governors of Lingah, they considered no further prool of the justice
o Xe r claim necessary.” To this the Resident replied that the Persian
reply begged the question, and that the Arab contention as regards S.rn was
lhat the Jowasimi Sheikhs of l.ingah represented the family, and derived no
right from their position towards the Persian Government.
16 In order to facilitate the disposal of other negotiations, His Majesty s
Government decided in August 1838 tacitly to acquiesce in the Persian
occupation of Sirri. Save, however, by such acquiescence, to \\hich
reference was made in official correspondence with Persia in 11)04 (see
para 21 below), they have never in any way admitted or withdrawn their
original objections to the claim of the Shah’s Government to the ownership
of the island, while the 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. stated in 1904 that it was equally
clear from the 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. records that the Jowasimi Arab Sheikhs of the
Pirate Coast had never voluntarily dropped their claim, which they had
formally reiterated in 1895, to proprietary rights over Sirri, any more than
over Abu Musa and Tamb.
IV. —Temporary Persian Occupation of Abu Musa and Tamb, 1904.
17. In January 1903 the 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. reported
that, trade having to a large extent been diverted from Lingah as the result
of the short-sighted policy of the Belgian Customs officials, Lingah merchants
were endeavouring to arrange with the Bombay and Persian Navigation
Company to make the island of Abu Musa a port of call. He added that,
in view of the Sirri incident of 1887, he was apprehensive lest the result
might be the advancing of a territorial claim to this island by Persia. The
Resident stated that the island undoubtedly belonged to the Jowasimi Sheikh
of Shargah, that the dowasimis did not, however, fly a flag on the island, and
that it might be well to advise the Sheikh of Shargah to do so as a sign of
ownership. This course was approved and action taken accordingly.
18. The question having arisen of advising the Sheikh of Ras-al-Khaima
(a sheikhdom at that time and now 7 dependent from the Sheikh of Shargah)
to adopt a similar course in regard to the island of Tamb, which belonged
to the Ras-al-Khaima section of the Jownsimis, the Resident reported that, so
far as he was aware, sovereignty over that island had never been asserted
by Persia, that the Sheikh of Shargah in his existing capacity as Ruler of
Ras-al-Khaima claimed it as on appanage of the Jowasimis of the Arab coost,
and that he was in possession of documentary evidence in the shape of
letters from two former Arab Chiefs of Lingah admitting the claim of the
Jowasimis of the Arab coast to those islands, as against the claim of the
Jowasimis of Lingah. It was decided that the Chief should be advised to
hoist his flag on Tamb as on Abu Musa, and this was done.
19. In April 1904. the Viceroy telegraphed that the Belgian Customs
officials had placed guards on Abu Musa and Tamb, forcibly removed the
Arab flags, erected new flagstaffs and hoisted the Persian * flag on both
islands. Tins action led to immediate protest by the Sheikh of Sharjah
w r ho appealed to His Majesty’s Government, under his treaty relations with
them, to take the necessary steps to prevent such interference in his territory.
20. The Government of India, who took a serious view of the incident
proposed'- to despatch a gunboat to the islands, with a representative of the
fcheikh of Shargah on board, to haul down the Persian flag, reinstate the
Jowasimi flag and remove the guards to Persian territory. It was decided t
however to give the Persian Government the opportunity to withdraw from
the position they had taken up, and on the 24th May the Minister reported