Page 229 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

City and countryside in modern Bahrain 209

Manama after a brief stay in Dubai or Sharjah, where they were given local
travel papers as British-protected subjects, despite the restriction enforced
by the agency in Bahrain. 32 By the late 1940s, however, the government
and the agency were forced to encourage migrations from Arab Gulf
countries as the non-Arab labour force came increasingly under attack
from the nationalist movement. After the enforcement of a new Order-in-
Council in 1952, visas and work permits were no longer required for Arab
nationals as jurisdiction over them was transferred from the British agency
to the Bahrain Government. By 1957–8 they represented the largest group
of immigrants in the registries of both the port and aviation authorities. 33
Alongside the profile of immigrant, government intervention reshaped
the legal meaning of ‘foreigner’ as non-national. The transfer of British
extraterritorial jurisdiction to the Bahrain Government gathered momen-
tum in 1937 with the issue of the Bahrain Nationality and Property Law,
a milestone in the history of Manama. 34 The transfer of jurisdiction had
already started before the discovery of oil as also suggested by the con-
solidation of municipal authority in the late 1920s over large segments of
the urban population. 35 Moreover, after 1929 children of immigrants
became subjects of the Shaykh of Bahrain by default unless their parents
had registered them in the political agency at birth. 36 As part and parcel of
the process of state centralisation, the 1937 legislation promoted a new
policy of ‘land for Bahrainis’. As the right to own real estate became
conditional to the acquisition of Bahraini nationality, the government
targeted the foreign propertied classes of Manama, particularly rich
Persian entrepreneurs who were forced to acquire Bahraini passports in
order to retain ownership of their assets. This legislation also responded to
concerns with national security; it was widely feared that the Pahlavi
government could use the disproportionate economic influence of the
Persian community of Manama in order to gain a foothold in Bahrain.
Yet by World War II only a fraction of local Persians born before 1929
had opted for Bahraini nationality. These were usually the richest Sunni

32
It seems that this continued until 1971. Minutes by Political Agent Bahrain, 17 February
1948, R/15/2/490 IOR; Belgrave to Political Agent Bahrain, 17 February 1948, R/15/2/
485 IOR.
33
‘Annual Report for the Year 1372’ in The Bahrain Government Annual Reports, 1924–1970,
vol. V, p. 38. Political Resident Bahrain to Foreign Office, 6 March 1959, FO 371/
140273 PRO; Al-Baharna, British Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction, p. 38.
34
I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn, 27 Safar 1356/8 May 1937, R/15/2/1976 IOR.
35
See pp. 123–4.
36
I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn, n.1101/17/1347, 17 Ramadan 1347/27 February 1929 and
n. 50/1351, 4 Dhu al- Hijjah 1351/31 March 1933, R/15/2/150 IOR; Belgrave to Political
Agent Bahrain, 9 September 1933, n. 541–9A, R/15/2/150 IOR; I‘lan Hukumah al-
Bahrayn n. 53/1356, 27 Sha‘ban 1356/1 November 1937, R/15/2/151 IOR.