Page 49 - Records of Bahrain (7) (i)_Neat

Disturbances and strikes, 1953-1954 35

favourable position than their co-sectaries in
Saudi Arabia. They were free to make their own
dispositions as regards Waqfs; they had their
own Sharia Courts; they were exempt from the
Zakat (Tithe) and other taxes; the Government -
or rather His Highness himself for the most part -

hod contributed heavily to the building of mosques
and schools for them. They had in fact no real
grievances. In any civil dispute between a Shi'i
and a Sunni the Courts were open to all.
5. The Political Agent, who was also present,
remarked that this v/as so but the Shi'is observed

that all the judges were Sunnis and they did not
believe impartial justice was done by an entirely
Sunni bench. His Highness replied that they
might equally well demand that the judge of Her
Britannic Majesty's Court for Bahrain should be a
Shi'i! The Government and the judges were
strictly impartial.
6. His Highness protested that in all

countries of the world there were sectarian and
communal differences that led to outbreaks of
.violence from time to time. No Government could
entirely prevent them and it was particularly
difficult with a population so ignorant and
excitable as Arab villagers. The trouble here
was that such material could be easily worked upon
/by