'File 4/22 III Umm Qasr' [‎13r] (25/78)

forrual reservation regarding it. The Foreign
Office were disposed to agree and sent the Amba
ssador a draft letter for communication to the
Iraq Government. The Ambassador, however, was for
milder approaches such as a verbal request for
cancellation of the Barograph of the Notification
as a matter of form, on the grounds that the para
graph was inappropriate because it had subsequent
ly been decided tViat the British Military Author
ities would collect the port dues.
6 . The India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. were against basing the re
quest for caricel] at ion solely on the fact that
the paragraph was administratively in-appropriate
and preferred that the communication should cont
ain a reference to the fact that the Shaikh of
Kuwait was concerned.
i
When the Ambassador did eventually approach
the Iraqi frime Minister the latter refused to
cancel the offending paragraph on the grounds that
cancellat ien tfrculd constitute ari abrogation of
Iraq’s sovere i&n 1 by . He refused to admit that
the Kuwait Government were concerned with dues
relating to urn Qasr, ana proceeded to give an in
accurate account of the genesis of the port which
the Ambassador was unable to rebut, owing to the
destruction of his records.
7. The Ambassador learea that to pursue the
matter would raise the whole question of the iraq-
Kuwait boundary in an acute form ana would seriou
sly disturb our relations with Iraq. He recommen
ded that the whole question he left m abeyance,
and used a current decision -- that only one berth
would be completed and that the port would not be
opened -- to support his argument. The Indian
Political Authorities, however, could not agree to
the question being left in abeyance and urged the
exclusion of ^he basra fort Lirectorate, and that
the iraq* Go vernnent be informed that Kis Majesty’s
Government could not concur m unilateral adminis
tration of the fort by Iraq.
8 . The India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. * too, favoured f®-rmal res
ervations; and, as a result of an interdepart
mental decision in London, the Ambassador was ask
ed for his comments cnarevised draft containing
such reservations. He approved the draft, and it
had since been communicated to the ir^q Government
m the fornirf a i^ote verbale.
9. it was latterly suggested in London that
urn q&sr should be completed alter the war and re
tained in untied Viands on strategic grounds.
This question is still under con siaerat ion.
A copy of telegram No.24296 from the India
Office to the Government of India -- the last refer
ence on the subject -- is attached.
Sd. G.N.JACKSCN.
Lb.
U&l u