"ملف XXXVIII/٥ تقرير عن صور بقلم الرائد ج. ب. ميرفي.، المساعد الهندي، الوكيل السياسي، مسقط. ١٠-١٠-١٩٢٨". [و‎‎١‎٦] (٣٠٨/٤٢)

Political Agent, Muscat) arrived there in August he found the two factions
on the point of opening fire on each other across the intervening creek. The
Political Agent, having obtained a truce for 48 hours, returned at once to
Muscat and informed the Sultan, who immediately proceeded to the spot.
The Jenebeh would not at once submit to his mediation, and before proceedings
had commenced in earnest the Sultan was called away by serious news from
Pustaq ; nevertheless, his visit actually averted fighting for the moment, and
the dispute was adjusted, not long after, by neutral Sheikhs of the neighbour
hood. (Lorimer, Vol. I, p. 580.)
31. In 1913 Sheikh Abdulla bin Salim A1 Alawi died. He was
considered a very daring man, well disposed towards the Sultans of Muscat,
and always ready to help them. His eldest son Naser had predeceased him,
and as the latter’s son Mahomed was still a minor, Abdulla’s second son Ali
was made Amir jointly with Mahomed bin JNaser. An arrangement which
still continues.
32. During the 1913-9 rebellion the Pani Bu Ali took the part of the
Sultan, but their behaviour was not altogether satisfactory.
They sent the rice given them for their progress inland, to their homes
at Sur and also left behind the ammunition, with which the Sultan had
provided them, at Muscat for taking to their homes at the first convenient
•opportunity, and then on their arrival at Sib were demanding extra
supplies of both food and ammunition.
They retreated unexpectedly and unaccountably from Bidbid, where they
were first established, to Watiyah. On being brought back to Muscat
much alarm was felt owing to their reputation for looting and general
misbehaviour. Their counsels were divided, they quarrelled bitterly amongst
themselves and paid little attention to the authority of their nominal leader,
Mahomed bin Naser, and it was only with great difficulty that they could be
induced to obey orders of any kind. In one quarrel amongst themselves,
which arose over pilfering by some of them in the bazaar whom the Sheikh
wished to punish, stones and sticks were freely used, with the result that
there were several heads broken. Even the Sheikh himself was stoned.
33. Since the time Mahomed bin Naser started to assert his authority,
relations between the Amirs and the Sultan have undergone a change. In
1920 the Wazir cut the allowances paid to the Bani Bu Ali through
misdirected economy, but Mr. Wingate* restored them.
34. In 1923 the Amirs sent a petition to Government claiming that the
port of Sur belonged to them and that the Sultan had nothing to do with the
said port; that the Sultan did not supply them with arms and ammunition
according to agreement, and asking that they might enter into direct
relations with the Government of India. Government replied that they were
unable to intervene on their behalf.
This claim to independence on the part of the Amirs of Jaalan appears to
be based on the compact entered into by the Wahabi Sheikh on his invasion
of Oman, when certain Sheikhs were constituted Ameers or territorial lords in
their own right without any dependence on Muscat (Bombay Government
Records, XXIV, p. 43).
35. In 1924 Mahomed bin Naser informed Major Hinde* that he was
authorised by the Muscat Government to settle all disputes in Sur and had
succeeded in doing so with the exception of Khamis bin Mubarak of the
Arama section. From the records of the Council of Ministers it appears
that Mahomed bin Naser wrote to the Sultan in March 1924 offering to
effect a settlement between the Jenebeh sections. The Sultan replied,
permitting him to interfere during the Salifah period, but after this period
he was not to interfere in anything.
39. Major Hinde then enquired how it was that the Sheikh did not permit
the new customs house to be built at Sur. Mahomed bin Naser became
evasive and said nothing had ever been settled about it, finally denying
that he had ever agreed to its being built and stating that he never would
* Then Political Agent, Muscat.