'File 8/78 MUSCAT STATE AFFAIRS: RENDITION OF GWADUR TO KALAT.' [‎91r] (181/192)

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Dated the 14th April, 1948
I have the honour to address you on the subject of the
Muscat dependency, Gwadur•
2# Towards the ere* of the eighteenth century a mt* ; ber oi' the
Muscat rallng family was forced to fly the State and took refuge
with the Khan of *al*t who conferred upon hliu the port of Cwadur -
then a snail fishing village - situated about 60 allies east of the
present Indo-lersian border* After a few years the refugee
returned to Muscat and became ^ultan, but he and his successors have
ever since retained possession of Owadur. Successive Khans of Kalat
have laid claim td the place but His Majesty*• Government and the
former Government of India always recognised tna ue facto position.
3* The boundary between Gwadur and Kalat wt*»te is not defined*
fhe Khan claims that such rights as the Gultan may possess are
confined tc Gwadur town while the Sultan claims a large slice of the
hinterland. The latter certainly exercises some kind of authority
fer a considerable area round Gwadur and in 1946 the Gcvernoert of*
India prescribed a presumptive boundary giving Muscat roughly an arc
with a 20 miles radius round Gwadur for the guidance of political
officers, but no communication was !?u*d© about the boundary to either
of the Pulers concerned. It is not known whether the Pakistan
Government are in possession of these papers, and even if they are
It Is unlikely that they would consider themselves under any obligat
ion to observe the boundary decided on.
4* Gwadur itself is a town of about 6C0C inhabitants situated
on an istnmus connecting a hammer-headed headland with the mainland.
In the area controlled by the Sultan and within the boundary referred
to above there are two fishing-villages on the coast containing about
2000 inhabitants between them and a few hamlets inland the population
of which varies with the a&our.t of rainfall. The total population
-\ of the enclave probably does not exceed 1C # CCC. In Gwadur itself
there is a wealthy Agakharl community about 400 strong and some
twenty or thirty families of Hindus but apart from this the town and
coastal villages are occupied by the :eds, *hc are believed to be the
^ Ichthyophagi of Kerodotus, and low class Baluchis who lead a primitive
existence and live mostly on fish and dates. The hamlets in the
interior are occupied mostly by Baluchi tribesmen many of whom go to
Karacnl to seek employment in years of drought.
B. The Sultan administers Gwadur through an Arab V«al 1 or Govern
or who has a bodyguard of about thirty -arabs from Muscat. He is
usually a man with little experience cf any kind of administration
and no knowledge of Urdu or Baluchi. He is forced tc rely largely
on two Baluchi headmen in Gwadur whose main concern is to fleece the
people. The Agakhanis and Hindus are also aliens who have settled
in Gwadur for their own profit and take no interest in the welfare of
their neighbours. It is however entirely on them that the prosperity
of the place depends. In 1947 the Guitar's Government derived an
income cf over 2s lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees (£.lb.76C) from Gwadur as against an expendit
ure of less than half a lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees {£.: ,760). Most of the Income is
derived from Customs. Dried fish art exported to Ceylor, shark-fins
to China and fish-manure to Europe. Produce of Kalat State such as
The Pt. Hon. Ernest levin, r.C., M.p.,
etc. etc. etc.,
The Foreign Office,
lo&iii
/da t '■ $ s. •.