‘Persian Gulf gazetteer. Part 1. Historical and political materials. Précis of Katar [Qatar] affairs, 1873-1904.’ [‎29r] (57/92)

47
to feign an attack on tberaor they would have been considered faint-hearted in the eyes of other
Arabs. I do not, however, consider that we are called upon to arrange a settlement of tribal
blood-feuds among these Arab tribes. Our policy is to see that peace at sea is preserved,
and, as in the present case, a disturbance did cake place, which might have had serious conse
quences, I would recommend that the Al.bin-Ali, as the offending tribe, should be punished as
suggested by Assistant 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. .
,f The Al-bin-Ali are supposed to be under the authority of the Chief of Bahrein, but the
offending section, being dissatisfied on account of the murder of their headman, Sultan-bin-
Salma, have gone to Katar, and do not acknowledge Sheikh Esa^s authority. They, however,
as reported by Assistant 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. , have date gardens and a small cargo boat in
Bahrein and the Assistant 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. recommends that this property should be sequestered
until the fines are paid.
As the Al-bin-Ali, whn are responsible for the disturbance, reside at Doha, which is
situated within the the Bidaa bay, where a i'urkish gunboat is stationed, I am of opinion
-that the course suggested may beiadopted, i£ my view as to tha advisability of inflicting a fine
on the tribe is appioved by the Government of India/"'
Piracies committed by the Beni Hajir off the Katar coast—1900.
185. In the year 1900 four cas^s of piracies were reported to have been
committed by the Beni Hajir tribes off the Katar coast (Colonel Kemball'a
letter No. 231, dated 10th September 1900). When enquiries were made into
the cases, there appeared some doubt
Secret E.. NoTember 1900, No. 65. i ii £ n i • • u •
whether one of the alleged piracies whicn
had been committed on the Persian boat Mubariki, was a case of piracy. The
three others were found to have been committed by the same gang, the
leaders of which were said to have been Salmin-bin-Yetama of the Shabaween
^section and Abdul-Hadi-bin Mirait of the Fehaid section of the Beni Hur.
It was also ascertained that the pirates embarked at Khor Shaggig (a few miles
south of Dhakira) which was occupied by the Mehaneda tribe, whose Sheikh
at the time was Abdul Aziz-bin-Ali Abdul Aziz. 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.
proposed that Sheikh Ahmed should be informed that the Government of India
would hold him responsible for the control of the Bedouins who resided in Katar,
r and that steps would, if necessary, be taken to bring this responsibility home to
him ; and that he should warn all owners of boats residing on the Katar coast
that they must be careful not to allow their boats to be used by these Bedouin
marauders, as in future the owners of the boatslused by the pirates would beheld
responsible (Resident's letter No. 1-70,
No. 87 of Secret E-, Apni i9oi f 1*08. ss-Qo. dated 19th November 1900)- ThePoli-
tical Resident gave the following reasons for making this suggestion :—
" As to Sheikh Ahmed's ability to restrain the Bedouins residing in Katar and to obtain
compensation for the vietims of the piracies, I am unable to express a definite opinion. H s
success in recovering a p >rtion of the stolen property would seem to show that if he chose to
, exert his authority, he could obtain some further redress, and as Mr. Gaskin points out, he
S could probably obtain ample reparation if he chose to seize Salmin and Abdul Hadi, who
appear to have been responsible for the piracies. Sheikh Ahmed and Sheikh Jasim, so far as
my inquiries go, do not possess any landed property in Bahrein. They, however, have an agent
in Bahrein to whom they occasionally send large sums of money for the purchase of rice,
while the proceeds of the pearls sent by them for sale to Bombay also come to Bahrein. It
would be possible, with the assistance of the Chief of Bahrein, to seize the property belonging
to Sheikh Ahmed and his brother which we may be able to lay our hands on in Bahrein and
to compensate with it the victims of the piracies. I confess, however, that this proposal does
not entirely commend itself to me. It is possible that Sheikh Ahmed's authority throughout
Katar may be o£ a sufficiently stable nature to enable him to punish the persons who are i*es-
ponsible for the piracies and to recover the stolen property, but I am not thoroughly satisfied
that this is the case, and moreover the course suggested, although it would result in the satisfaction
of the claims of the persons whose properly was robbed, would not, it seems to me, act as->
deterrent to the pirates for the future.
The alternative course would be to send a naval expedition to seize the boats belonging
to the place where the pirates embarked for the purpose of committing the piracies in question.
A boat expedition would, I understand, be necessary as ships cannot approach within several
miles of Khor Shaggig. This proposal, if carried out, would probably have the effect of
putting a stop to piracies in the future, as the owners of boats would be careful to see that
thev were not taken by the Bedouins for their piratical expeditions. At the same time, it
must be remembered that these piracies occurred more than a year ag-o, and, in my opinion,
a punitive expedition to be fully effective and to ensure the punishment of the right persons,
should be carried out as soon as possible after the occurrence of the piracy.
\

‘Persian Gulf gazetteer. Part 1. Historical and political materials. Précis of Katar [Qatar] affairs, 1873-1904.’ [‎29r] (57/92)

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‘Persian Gulf gazetteer. Part 1. Historical and political materials. Précis of Katar [Qatar] affairs, 1873-1904.’ [‎29r] (57/92)

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