"دليل الخليج، الجزء الأول، مواد تاريخية وسياسية، ملخص عن التوسع التركي في الساحل العربي من الخليج الفارسي وشؤون الأحساء والقطيف" [‎١‎٢‎٥] (١٦٤/١٤٢)

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teen plundered. It is understood that of the property stolen in the two piracies which
occurred in August 1899, a portion, valued at about Rs. 2,067, has been recovered by Sheikh
Ahmed-bin-Thani, the Ruling Sheikh of Katar, but that no effort has been made by him to
recover the remainder of the property which was looted on those two occasions or to exact
redress from the Bedouins who committed the smaller outrage at Graimia Pearl Bank in
August 1900. You may suggest that, in order to obtain compensation for the sufferers by
these piracies, the property of the Katar Chief in Bahrein should be attached, or that, as an
alternative, the cases should be allowed to drag. A third alternature which was suggested in
your letter No. 270, dated the 19th November 1900, would be to send a boat expedition to
punish the villages from which the pirates embarked.
The Government of India have decided, in view of the time which has elapsed since the
occurrence of these piracies, and of certain pre-occnpations in other parts of the Persian Gulf,
that active measures for the exaction of redress from the Sheikh of Katar or from the offend
ing villages cannot now be wisely or profitably undertaken, and that the cases must be allowed
to drop. Having regard, however, to the language held by Colonel Meade to the Sneikh m
November 1899, the Government of India have come to their present decision with reluctance,
and they cannot but regret that, owing to the want of definite proposals from the successive
Political Residents, the opportunity for exacting full and timely reparation for these outrages
should have been allowed to pass. In the opinion of the Government of India, some speedy
measures of redress should be adopted in future if such outrages are repeated; and, in the
event of any fresh case of piracy occurring off the Katar peninsula, the Political Resident
should not only cause the property of the Katar Chief in Bahrein to be attached until redress
is oiven, but should also submit proposals at once for a boat expedition against the^ villages
immediately concerned, if that appears to be the best and most effective method of mtiicting
punishment and enforcing reparation."
[C967FD]