Page 183 - DILMUN NO 20

Historical Links between lndia and the Gu‫ﺇ‬f

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١n dealing with these developments, the British lndian Authorities used a
policy based on a mixture of diplomacy and force. While bringing Oman, "the
only organized state in maritime Arabia and the ideal base for the exercise of
influence over the Gulf 43, under their aegis by much intimacy towards its
chiefs, and while sending a mission to the Wahhabi lmam to offer mediation
in friction between Riyadh and Muscat and to assert London's willingness to
establish friendly relations with him 44,the British indian Authorities used
successive military expeditions to destroy Qawasim's power. However, in all
cases they exploited to a large scale the rivalry and hostility among the GuIf'
s chiefs themselves who were, more or less, at constant wars with each
other.

The involvement of the British lndian Authorities in the affairs of the Gulf,
under the banner of establishing peace in the waters contiguous to lndia and
providing safe passage to commercial vessels, ultimately led to committing
the chiefs of the Gulf's southern ports, Oman, and Bahrain to a number of
treaties by which these chiefs lost their freedom and fell under British aegis.
The most important among these treaties was the General Treayt of Peace
which was conducted in 1820 following Keir's successful military exped‫ﺕ‬tion
against the Qawasim and their allies in 1819. 45 This treayt stands as a
conspicuous landmark in the history of British lndia's policy in the Gulf, not
only because it gave the British Government of india the right to police hte
waters of the Gulf but also because this Government applied it to all politiacl
relations in the region.

Towards the close of the 9th centu,yr the Ottoman Empire began to
challenge Britain's supremacy in the GuIf The British reacted by redefining
their position in the region through a new set of treaties with the local rulers
such as the 1880 treayt with the ruler of Bahrain and the 1892treayt with the
rulers of the Southern Gulf‫ق‬sSheikhdoms which came to be known as the
Trucial Emirates. In both treaties, the rulers and their heirs were bond not to
enter into negotiations with any power, not to agree on the establishment o‫ﺃ‬
any foreign agency, and not to cede, sell, or lease any part of their territories
to any power without hte approval of Britain.