Papers of the Mesopotamian Administration (later Middle East) Committee [‎1r] (1/80)

SECRET.
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MESOPOTAMIAN ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE.
DRAFT REPORT OF COMMITTEE.
I. We submit the following recommendations :
!. I hat tlie occupied territories in Mesopotamia, consisting at the
present moment of the greater parts of the Basra and Bagdad Vilayets,
although they are at present and must for the time being remain in military
occupation, should in the future be administered not by the Indian
< iovernment but bv His Majesty's Government.
That, in view of the pledges that have already been given, and of the
political interests involved, it will be necessary that the territory approxi
mately contained in the Basra \ ilavet should remain permanently under
British administration.
• h That the boundaries of the region in question should be approximately
a line drawn from Nasirieh, along the Shat-el-Ilai through Knt-el-Amara to
Bedrai on the west; along the Persian frontier (Pusht-i-Kuh) to the borders
of Xhuzistan and Arabistau on the north-east and east ; and the present
boundaries of the Basra Vilayet on the south.
4. That it would be premature to fix at present the exact northern or
western boundaries of the Bagdad Vilayet, but that the region to be controlled
from thence should be approximately that coloured in the map attached to the
Anglo-h ranco-Russian Agreement of 1016.
o. That the Holy Places, Xejef, Kerbela and Kazimain will thus remain
in the Arab sphere and not be placed directly under British control. It was
noted that the Shiahs of India would be much perturbed at the establishment
of a British Protectorate over the territory containing the Holy Places of
their faith.
We desire to lay stress on the importance of including in the future
administrative area of the State or Province of Bagdad all the land irrigated,
or to be irrigated, by the existing or future canal system of Mesopotamia.
The 1 lindia barrage and the canals fed from bare in the neighbourhood of the
Shiah shrines, which it is proposed to treat as separate enc/ores to be excluded
from British direct control. In delimiting these enclaves An area of land belonging to one country and entirely surrounded by land of just one other country. the objection to
including in them any land falbug within the limits of the canal system
should be carefully borne in mind. We also consider that, whatever form of
separate administration is set up in the Bagdad Vilayet, the control of
irrigation in the two Vilayets (Bagdad and Basra) should be in the hands
of a single British authority.
6 .—Form of Arab Adm austral ton in Bay dad Ydaifet. —We under
stand the present position to be that the Irak Code,” which contains the
law in force in the Basra Vilayet, extends automatically to all additional
territory occupied since the code was introduced. We consider that this
code will not be found appropriate to the conditions of the Bagdad Vilayet
if, as is contemplated, this territory is to be administered as far as possible
on Arab lines. Idle right course, in our opinion, would be to maintain the
local judicial system as far as possible, both in civil and criminal matters,
and both as regards the substance of the law and the official personnel,
subject to such modifications in substance and in nomenclature as may lie
found necessary (e.g., the substitution of Arabic for Turkish official titles,
wherever the latter are in use). The same principle should be followed in
constituting the executive Government and the machinery of administration.
The existing land-revenue system should be left as far as possible undisturbed,
while the tribal system of government, the provincial and local councils, and
the old official organisation (Turks being replaced by Arabs) should be
maintained. The policy of I lis Majesty’s Government should be to administer
the Vilayet as an Arab province, so far as possible by indigenous agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and
in accordance with existing laws and institutions. In this way no insuper
able obstacles would be created to its ultimate inclusion, under British
control, in an Arab State or Confederacy ; and the promises given in Sir
Stanley Maude’s proclamation would thus be made good. The employment
of Indians in any branch of the administration of the Vilayet is inconsistent
with this policy, and should therefore be strictly discountenanced. Xo