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File 4673/1919 Pt 3 ‘Persian Gulf: Bahrein Mission to England 1919. Political business of Mission’ [‎344v] (76/164)

The record is made up of 1 item (83 folios). It was created in 6 Aug 1919-12 Aug 1920. It was written in English and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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7
m
r > Amongst other matters which the Commission might examine is the
proposal to create a separate enclave out of the Shiah Holy hhmes Of the
soundness of this proposal we confess ourselves somewhat doubtiul. rue,
a verv similar proposal was advanced in the late \ iceio^ s telegiam oi the
23rd September 1915; but the circumstances which prompted it exist no
longer, and in the absence of any pledge or declaration on the subject, llis
Majesty’s Government are now free to consider the matter anew on its own
merits in the light of present conditions. And in our opinion a wiser
solution is to be found on the lines of Sir Percy Cox’s suggestion that Nejel
and Kerbela, while remaining integral portions of the new administration,
should be organized as independent townships under their own municipal
o-overnment. There is no need to apprehend that such a solution would not
meet with the approval of the Shiah community in India, whose attitude is
very different from that of Sunnis in respect of Mecca and Medina. It would
assure them that immunity from interference with the pilgrimage and the
actual administration of the shrines which is their foremost concern ; and
given that assurance, they are too conscious of their own weakness not to
welcome that sense of peace and security that would arise from the whole
country being under our general protection. In this way too, the political
embarrassment of a separate enclave would be avoided.
6. The proposal to officer the new territories from a service to be
amalgamated with that of the Soudan and possibly also of the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
undoubtedly offers the best practicable solution to an admittedly 'difficult
problem. Nevertheless, the cadre even with these enlargements will remain
small and as such be exposed to all the vicissitudes and objections that attach
to small cadres, notably slow promotion alternating with unduly rapid
promotion and the lack of a fair proportion of prize appointments. It seems,
moreover, wise to recognise from the outset that Mesopotamia offers but few
amenities, and that if a really good stamp of man is to be 'attracted, liberal
leave concessions and generous local allowances will in all probability be
called for. Without these or similar attractions it seems to us doubtful
whether many of our officers now serving in Mesopotamia will willingly cut
themselves permanently adrift from their career in India or will volunteer
for any but a very temporary transfer to the new service.
7. Regarded as an ideal towards which we should gradually work, we
see no reason to dissent from the proposal to discountenance the employment
of Indians in the new administration and to draw the Asiatic element in the
administration from men of Arab and Persian domicile or descent. But we
regard this ideal neither as one capable of being realised forthwith nor as
one which it would be politic openly to avow. To discharge the whole body
of Indian Moslems already employed to good purpose in the Basrah Vilayet
and definitely to deny the administration the option of drawing further on
this useful material, before the requisite number of clerks and pettv officials
of sufficient education are available locally, would seem bad economy and an
unnecessary (bag on ordinary administrative efficiencv. To publish any
formal oideis rigorously excluding all Indians as such from employment in
the new administration would clearly be impolitic in the extreme. Such a
course would not fail to rouse a deep resentment in India and to excite a
strong antipathy against the Arabs, Indian sympathy with whom it should
be our aim to foster. Much the wiser course will be to weed out Indians
already in the service gradually and unostentatiously, and to refrain from
admitting any others to posts in the administration for which local candidates
or reasonably similar qualifications are fortheomino-
£>■ •
8. L\en moie invidious would it be, while publicly debarring Indians
from a share m the administration, to proceed to call upon India for
material ass.stance in other directions. This suggests the wisdom of
n laming lom un\ piecipitate action in the undertaking of large irrigation
schemes in Mesopotamia which would Ire beyond the scope of indigenous
aboui to construct, or of indigenous cultivators to exploit. The inevitable
tendency of any vast addition to the culturable area to act as a strontr and

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This part contains papers relating to the visit of Mission (deputation) from Bahrein [Bahrain] to the United Kingdom in 1919. It includes correspondence regarding the reception of ‘Abdullah bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah, son of Shaikh Isa of Bahrein, and Abdullah’s son Muhammad-bin-Abdulla by King George V at Buckingham Palace, London, on 6 August 1919.

Much of the correspondence also relates to the reception of ‘Abdullah bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah by Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Assistant Under-Secretary of State for India, on 1 September 1919, and a subsequent letter from Abdullah to Hirtzel, in which Abdullah states that he has been instructed by his father to make four proposals to the British Government regarding Bahrein, and the response of the British Government to these proposals.

The main correspondents include: 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. ; the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad (‘Political, Baghdad’); Shaikh Sir Isa Bin Ali Al Khalifah, Ruler of Bahrain; 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; the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; and the Deputy 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. .

The part includes a letter in Arabic from Sir Isa bin Ali al Khalifah, Ruler of Bahrain, to King George V (folios 385 and 386), which has been translated into English.

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1 item (83 folios)
Written in
English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script
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File 4673/1919 Pt 3 ‘Persian Gulf: Bahrein Mission to England 1919. Political business of Mission’ [‎344v] (76/164), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/850/3, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100074780349.0x000064> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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