'File 8/64 II SULTAN'S RELATIONS WITH HIS TRIBES.' [‎6r] (11/104)

Confidential.
20 /S/ 64 / 50 .
H. B.M* s Consulate and
Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ,
MUSCAT . 27th December, 1950*
Vy dear Sir lupert.
Please refer to your letter No. 378/78/50G dated the
14th December 1950* about the conversations of Shaikhs l\ihainmad bin
Salimin and Yasir bin Famud with Stobart.
2 * I am very glad that you have asked the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
Bahrain to instruct the Political Officer Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. to discourage
ai^r Sultanate Shaikhs v/ho may call upon him from any idea other than
that we shall only deal withfhCm through the Sultan. So long as the
policy is for us to support the Sultan’s efforts to establish control
over all the territory which we regard as falling within his dominions,
however disappointing or feeble those efforts may appear to us at
times, that seems to be the only correct attitude.
3* Fver since Bird’s and Saiyid Ahmad Ibrahim’s tour, ai d
Shaikh Saqr bin Sultan of the Naim got out of hand with his demands^
(the resuit,the Sultan alleges, of Bird*s direct dealings to which he
says he agreed against his better judgment), the Sultan has cut off
the allowances, such as theykwere, and not I fancy as jjtated by
them, of the Al bu Shamis and Nairn Shaikhs, and intends to leave them
in the cold until they come to heel. But for the success of this
policy he begs us not to deal with them or encourage them in any way,
arid, as Isay, until our policy is changed, it seems that we must
support him whole-heartedly. I fear that it is because he does not
quite trust us, that he is so reluctant at times to let people travel
about his territory, even when it is not risky for then to do so.
4. Of course this flaw in the Sultan's scheme, as I see it,
is that whilst we play this game, there are others on the Saudi side
who may not, and Shaikhs like Sulaiman bin Fam*yar and S aqr -bin Suit an,
who more than anything want independence and so individual profits,
may attempt to break away to those who will recognise them. In fact
there seems to me to be a direct connection between Sulaiman bin
Hamyar’s approach to His ^Wjesty’s Government through Thesiger, his
letter to me, his meetings with Thoms, the recent tour of the "adventurer
Abdulla Samil and now Shaikh vasir bin -amud s journey to Hasa.
Both Shaikh^s / liihaamad bin Salimin^or Salmin) and Yasir
bin Hamud / are mentioned in my notes on the Sultanate tribes. Yaoir
is the Taraimah of the Janabah and lives at Adam, or at Iz towards
a d not far from rizwa y ard is a friend of Sulrfjrnn bin Farryar. Both
tribes are Ghafiris, and it is not impossible that these or even all
of the Chafiri faction of the interior might unite under Sulaiman
bin Hairyar and try for independent recognition. -ulaiman bin Hanyar
is quite definitely progessively inclined, and was only prevented from
continuing the motor road from Nizwa beyond }mti don the V/adi Sam ail
to Muscat by the Imam and people of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. up to Nakhl, which one
can reach by motor car from Muscat.
6 .
His Kxoellency Sir Rupert Hay, K.C.I.E., G.3.I.
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. .
BAHRAIN.