"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٢‎٦] (١٧٨٢/١٥٨١)

imniMMUMlUUMI
matrnmm
hflhk8se2?sss
Mnntafik
troubles,
nov. 1863-
aug, 1864
1420
an(} the Arab tribes, hardly less grave than those which had prevailed
in the province from 1845 to 1855. The exciting cause was similar;
it was a determined effort made by the Local Government, with insuffi
cient resources and in disregard of the experience of Najib Pasha and
^amiq Pasha, to bring the tribesmen under strict control, and extend
Turkish executive authority to new and by the Turks almost untrodden
districts. These difficulties interfered seriously with the construction of
a line of telegraph from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf which had been
undertaken by the Porte under British advice, and with British official
aid ; and the British Political Agent at Baghdad was consequently
obliged to intervene, to a much greater extent than had been usual
in internal affairs of the country.
It will be remembered that in 1855 Shaikh Bandar had been
__ recognised as head of the Muntafik tribe on undertaking to pay a large
annual sum for the farm of a group of districts from which some,
formerly pertaining to the Muntafik Shaikhship, had been removed!
In 1863, Shaikh Bandar having constantly made default in his
payments * Narniq Pasha sent orders to Basrah under which Munib
Pasha, the Turkish Governor of that place, arrested Bandar when
that chief came m a Turkish steamer to pay him a visit. The Shaikh
was soon set at liberty, however; and Namiq Pasha, suspecting that
his release was due to bribery, caused Munib Pasha himself to be
brought under arrest to Baghdad, where it was proved that he had in
fact been guilty of corruption. Shaikh Bandar was subsequently
induced, in hope of a renewal of the farm of the Muntafik districts in
his favour, to come to Baghdad and pay up 1 50,000 Sharais on account
of the arrears due by him; but while still at Baghdad he died, on the
13th November 1868, owing about £25,000 to the Turkish Treasury.
JNamiq Pasha thought the opportunity favourable for extending
direct Turkish rule to new portions of the Muntafik territory. He resolv
ed, without seeking the approval of the Government at Constantinople,
to detach the lands on the Shatt-al-'Arab below Qurnah and those on
the right bank of the Tigris above Qurnah, including the IJai or Shatt-
al Gharaf tracts from the Muntafik Shaikhdom, and to annex the former
to the Turkish Qaim-Maquamliq of Basrah, and the latter to that of
AziTyah. Au the same time the Muntafik Shaikh was to be deprived of
the powers of life and death, mutilation, and corporal punishment
^eneraLy, which he had exercised from time immemorial; he was to be
ebarred^from exacting blood money in tribal disputes and other unau-
* icffo' 8 0 ^ c6r ^ n whether this is the same Naiuiq Pasha wlso wms Pasha of Baghdad
in 1852 64 : probably it was not.