Page 339 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Eight

small-scale lighting broke out between tribes over the ownership of a
well or a wadi bed. The force, often assisted by the British forces
stationed in Sharjah and in particular by the Royal Engineers,
undertook many civilian tasks such as blasting motorable tracks
through the Hajar mountains and along the east coast, assisting with
the evacuation of sick people and with surveys of various kinds
conducted for the Trucial Slates Development Office. Thus most of
the country was opened up at least for rugged vehicles and became
safe to travel in. The population came to appreciate the role of the
TOS in this and did not normally appear to resent the force’s powers
to arrest and to search any suspect person, although these powers
were conferred on the force by virtue of British Government
legislation.95
In deference to the Rulers of the seven sheikhdoms, the TOS were
instructed not to operate in the towns except with the explicit
consent of the Ruler concerned. In the towns where law and order
had originally been enforced by the Rulers’ guards, the increase in
population and change in its structure made it necessary to form
police forces. Shaikh SaTd bin Maktum created a police force in 1956
in Dubai under a British commander.96 The Ruler of Abu Dhabi
followed suit in 1957. When the Rulers of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ra’s
al Khaimah and Dubai began to build up their own defence forces
during the late 1960s, they were largely officered by seconded and
contracted British officers. Thus, over two decades before the
withdrawal in 1971, the British Government became formally and
informally almost completely responsible for the internal and the
external security of the Trucial States.

Foreign jurisdiction

The framework
Throughout the 19th and the first half of the 20th century the British
Government of India had made it increasingly obvious that British
subjects in the Trucial States enjoyed British protection. This came to
be interpreted as meaning that the local Rulers should not have
jurisdiction over these people, be they Muslim, Christian or of any
other faith. Yet British jurisdiction in the territories of the Trucial
Rulers had not been specified or codified. The reason was that there
had been very few cases other than the disputes between Indian
merchants and local inhabitants over debts and lost property. With
the influx of foreigners to the Trucial States and increasing contacts
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