Page 269 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

Background and claim to Hawar islands, 1936-1942 257
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were drown up on the beach near tho northern village during
my vieit thoro last wook ond thoy ore admittedly registered
in Bahrain, •'.ere tho Dmvooir purely temporary visitors to
tho island, with their permanent habitations in Zellaq, their
pearling boats would not bo beached in Hawar* Nor indeed
would there evon be fishermen there at the present time, since
fishing in the surrounding waters is suffer in.* fruw j *3 sea­

sonal decline.
10. In their preliminary otatemont (document No* 3) the
Dohrain Government state that the permanent fish traps at
Hawar aro registered in tho Land Department of the Bahrain
Government. This is not strictly accurate, since those traps

have boen under dioputo for tho past three years between mem-
boro of the Hawar Dowasir, and cloarly registration cannot be
offected until their dispute is settled. Nevertheless it is
true that the dispute itself is boforo the Bahrain Ounni Shara
Court and I have myoelf seen part of the record* The mere
fact that tho claimants to these traps, which have unquestion­

ably been in existence for several years, should refer their
dispute to the Bahrain Government is of importance in indicat­
ing the oxorciae of Jurisdiction by the Shaikh of Bahrain.
Further and more important evidenoe of the exercise of Juris­
diction by the Shaikh of Bahrain for years past is provided

in the two Judgments forwarded with the Bahrain counter-claim.
Those two Judgments, doting from some thirty years Ggo, are
of unquestionable authenticity and both of them relate to dis­
putes in regard to ownership of "land and sea properties" in
Hawar* The Shaikh of Qatar in paragraph 11 of his rejoinder

socks to show that those two Judgments are of no evidentiary
valuo slnoe it is, he claims, common for Qadhis of one Moslem
country to settle disputes between the subjects of another
Moslem country* This statement is of course true up to a
point in "personal" cases, but the Shaikh of Qatar would be
the/-