File 57/1928 Pt 7 'Iraq-Nejd relations: Frontier Situation (1928). Printed Correspondence.' [‎2v] (4/188)

V
140
for the argument (protest) regarding the measurement of miles,. metres, etc,
but Article 3 did not prevent the building at Atraf A1 Hadud but it prohibited
the building at the waters and wells existing at Atraf A1 Hadud, the following
is the wording of the article (Each of the two Governments undertake not to
use the waters and wells existing at Atraf A1 Hadud for any military purpose |
such as the building of forts and no troops should be posted near them) while
Busaiyah and the wells near it are all situated at Atraf A1 Hadud and there is
no argument about it.
We beg to offer to the British Government our thanks and gratitude for
taking into consideration our point of view in the matter of Busaiyah fort.
We feel pleased and happy for their appointing the Hon’ble Colonel Haworth,
the Political Besident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , to discuss with us and try to clear
up the misunderstanding which has arisen in this case.
We very much appreciated the desire of the British Government to bring
matters toan understanding. We always endeavour to keep on an understanding
with the Brit’sk Government. We regret, however, that it is not possible torus
in the near future to fix a time for our meeting as we are not keeping well on
account of a cold we are now having, and secondly, owing to the heavy work now
at Neid which we ought to do, and which requires settling and finishing up. As
regards the information conveyed in the message of the attack of Hawish on
al-Ghalidh of Bani Hukaim near Uraibah in the neutral zone, this attack was
not against Iraq and was not felt by the Iraq Government but we consider it
to be an attack against us and we felt it more than t he Iraq Government.
The situation in Nejd after the recent actions of the Iraq Government has
chano’ed a great deal and it does not allow us to do all that we want and desire.
We will give the reasons here for the situation which we want to be conveyed
to the Hon’ble 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. for the information of His Majesty’s
Government so that when a meeting takes place between us and His Honour
he will be in possession of all the necessary instructions in this matter and
their details.
We do not want to conceal it from you that there is no man, woman or
child in Nejd who was not very much disappointed owing to the building of
Busaiyah and similar other forts by the Iraq Government. And the next
disappointment that followed it was due to two actions of the Iraq Government.
Birst they (Iraq) welcomed the criminals whom we wanted to punish on account
of the Iraq Governmeit as they have done in the past in the case of Yusuf
as-Sadun and his Nejdi followers and as they did recently in the case of Bin
Mijlad when we punished him on account of Iraq. He ran away to them and
they gave him a shelter and offered him help. Secondly, the coming of the
Iraq officials in cars and their mixing with our _ tribes and asking them to
run away from our country (control) and instigating them to. cause trouble
in our country. Eor this reason the Nejd people felt it very much.
When we want to send them to punish the Dawish they say “ we do not
disobey your orders hut the Iraqis are the people who deserve it as they
contravened the agreement ”. Secondly, if we were to punish the the Hawish
he would run away to Iraq and there the Iraq people would shelter him, then
what have we done ?
This is the situation at Nejd about those who are at A1 Hadud. There
fore there are three ways to settle this dispute and we then accept any respon
sibility which may arise should the Iraq Government carry them out regularly.
Eirst, Article 3 of the Protocol should be observed and the Busaiyah Eorr
should be pulled down with others, secondly, both parties should undertake not
to accept any criminal coming from the country of the other party whatever
his crime may he. Third, the Iraq Government should undertake to prevent
the visit of any motor car, aeroplane or man from mixing with our tribes with
the intention of c eating trouble and we undertake to observe the same. If
any agreement is arrived at on these three articles the situation will be quite
clear and everything will be settled. We would also be able to punish the big
and small in our country and recover all that they have plundered and make
them pay for it and punish them for all that they have done.