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for three days later and with fewer representatives. The second meeting was more

fruitful as both parties agreed to a general meeting in which both would invite as

many from each community as they wished. The new meeting was to take place on

18 May in the Al-Ju’mah Mosque in Muharraq. Al-Bakir later declared that the

meeting was put off after the Ruler got wind of it and expressed his objections to

it. 175

The rumours of Sunni-Shi’ite meetings had reached the Ruler were

confirmed by Belgrave’s diary of 17 May. He noted that the Ruler believed that the

objective of the meetings was not to reach reconciliation between the two but was

rather driven by the Sunnis to put forth to the Administration sets of political

demands. Belgrave did not hide his feelings towards the affair. ‘I personally am

against it’, he said. 176

Burrows, in a message to Eden, underlined his awareness of a number of

Sunnis and Shi’ites who had conducted meetings in Bahrain to ease sectarian

tensions. Burrows highlighted the local Administration’s wariness of the possibility

of political demands which might follow the Sunni-Shi’ite dialogue. Furthermore,

the Residency voiced its suspicion of this group’s motives. They advised the Ruler to

take measures to ease local tensions.

One of the ideas presented to the Ruler was the formation of a committee

representing both sects to investigate the previous year’s events. But the Ruler

believed that a suggestion to form an investigative committee made no sense as its

175 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 46-49.
176 University of Exeter, Special Collections, Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 17 May
1954.

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