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Chapter Two

                    usually also on good terms with most of the other tribes of the region,
                    including the Duru' and the Bani Qitab.
                    Balush
                    The Balush of Dhahirah formed an important clement of the settled
                    population in the land between theTrucial Coast and the Sultanate.
                    These Balush are not to be identified with the people who had  come
                    from the former Omani possession Makran, now part of Pakistan, to
                    serve in the Sultan’s army as mercenaries, nor are they descended
                    from the Baluchis who settled in Muscat, the coastal towns of the
                    Balinah and the Trucial States (according to the Gazetteer the latter
                    had about 1,400 Baluchis) as traders and fishermen. While these
                   groups retained the use of their language, the Balush of Dhahirah
                    have a tribal organisation, an exclusive dar around their capital
                    Mazam; they are Sunni and speak Arabic.  100
                      On his journey from Abu Dhabi to Muscat in 1902, Major Cox
                    noted particularly that the Balush of Dhahirah had no communi­
                   cations with the Batinah but that their import and export trade was
                   conducted entirely with Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This explains their
                   usually good relationship with the Bani Yas and in particular their
                   shaikh’s co-operation with the A1 Bu Falah in the Buraimi area.
                      At a time of realignment of tribal loyalties during the first decade
                   of this century, the Balush of Mazam had a dispute with and were
                   attacked by their erstwhile protectors the Bani Qitab. When the
                   beduin Bani Qitab converged on Mazam and hostilities there had
                   claimed some victims, the Balush turned to Zayid bin Khalifah for
                   help.101 In February 1906 he collected his forces with the intention of
                   supporting the Balush of Mazam and extracting blood money from
                   the Bani Qitab on behalf of the Balush. The Bani Qitab had difficulty
                   finding support, but the young Rashid bin Ahmad of Umm al Qaiwain
                   eventually adopted their case as an opportunity to challenge Shaikh
                   Zayid’s influence over the tribes in the hinterland. A general war over
                   the Balush dispute was, however, prevented by a meeting of Trucial
                   Rulers and shaikhs of the hinterland, convened in Khawanlj near
                   Dubai in April 1906. It resulted in the written agreement, already
                   mentioned, regarding the Rulers’ spheres of influence among the
                   beduin. Shaikh Zayid bin Khalifah assumed the responsibility for
                   following up all the claims, “important or trifling’’, which the Balush
                   had against the Bani Qitab, and he instructed his wali Ahmad bin
                   Hilal accordingly.102 In the 1950s, however, the Balush followed the

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