Page 461 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

Effect of Zubarah dispute on relations, 1949 449

CONFIDENTIAL Tho Adviser tolls mo that recently,
at tho suggestion of Shaikh Abdulla the
Ruler's unoloj ho broached with the Ruler
the questIon.of ending the "quarrel" between
him*., the Ruler, and the Ruler of Qatar about
QzubarnhT)
2, W1 len Shaikh Ahmed of Qatar, Shaikh
All's oon, paoood ..through Bahrain in tho
oummor on his way book to Qatar the Ruler
. of Bahrain received him well and gave him
throe motor earn. At the same timo the
Advloor io pretty certain-that in reply to
an invitation by Shaikh All to vioit Qatar
tho Ruler of Bahrain gave a vague acceptanoe,
which, however vague, wao otill an acceptance
and wao taken ao ouch by Shaikh Aimed. After
hia return to Qatar preparations were made
there for a vioit by Shaikh Sulman and
when that did not materialise tho Qataris
wore correspondingly disappointed. . The
Advisor started his interview by discussing
this question of tho Ruler of Bahrain's
oo-oallod proposed vioit to Qatar and said
ho thought it would have been an excellent
thing ao a means of ending the dispute
over Zubarah.
3. Tho Ruler's reaction was not, as lias
always been the caoo in the past, when
Zubarah was mentioned, one of angry protest
that Zubarah wao his and nothing to do with
the Qataris. Instead ho troated the whole
matter with a completely cvon temper and
said that he liked Shaikh Aimed and had
nothing against Shaikh All, though some
othoro (presumably of the A1 Thnni family)
disliked him. He made the excuse, which
the Advioer regarded ao si very lame, that
if lie had gOne. to Qatar it would have cost
him at least 10 lakhs of rupees in presents
and he did not feel ho could pay out that
amount of money. As the Advioer said thio,
for Shaikh Sulman, was a very lame excuse
and rather went to indicate that Shaikh
Sulman felt rather ohamarfaced about having
indlcatod thut he might visit Qatar and
then not having done 30. However he did
say that tho stumbling block now to a
reconciliation between him and the Ruler
of Qatar wao only a question of "authority"
- tho Arabic word he used was "suits". What
tho Adviser understood the Ruler to moan by
this was that if Shaikh All wore to leavo
' Zubarah entirely alone and not put any
guards on it, ao I boliovc he does at
present, although outside tho Zubarah fort
and Aot in it and somo little distance from
the fort, Shaikh Sulman would-regard tho
matter as closed. The Adviser's understanding
io that nowadays very few Bahrainis vioit
Zubarah, and these only a few of tho
immediate followers of tho Ruler. Shaikh
Sulman*o view apparently is thuti these
people should not be subject to Qatar's
.jurisdiction, in the shape of a p,pi iceman
sitting in the neighbourhood of tho fort
, ut Zubarah, when they go over there
V 4.