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Tajir. Al-Bakir was elected the Movement’s General Secretary. The new Movement

was named the Higher Executive Committee (HEC). 232 Belgrave mocked it: ‘Higher

than what?’ he said. 233 To him the name might have seemed intimidating, giving it a

higher authority to that of the Administration and of the Ruler.

A new gathering at the Mu’min Mosque in Manama on 18 October finally

caught British attention. The date chosen for the gathering marked a Shi’ite

occasion celebrating forty days since the passing of the anniversary of Hussein’s

martyrdom, thus guaranteeing a large audience of mourners. Wall posted an

account of the meeting’s proceedings to the Residency. The message declared that

the dynamo behind the Movement’s creation was Sunni journalists from Al-Qafilah

and Sawut Al-Bahrain. Wall highlighted his surprise about the success the group

had achieved ‘in rallying the two communities to adopt a common political

programme’. 234 News of the gathering reached Belgrave, as he noted in his diary

and he reported rumours he had heard that the HEC was out to set political

demands that involved the formation of committees to oversee governmental

departments, a matter he strongly opposed, as it directly threatened his status. 235

Al-Qafilah covered the proceedings of the day. It stated that an oath read by

Mahmood Al-Mardi was recited. The oath pronounced:

I swear by God Almighty to be faithful to the Arab nations’ cause and
to march in solidarity united with the sons of my country. No
sectarianism, no division and God is my witness. 236

232 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 56-62.
233 Belgrave, Personal Column, 204.
234 TNA, FO 1016/309, Wall to Burrows on Public Sentiment for Representational Government, 25
October 1954.
235 Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 17 October 1954.
236 ‘Al-Intifada Al-Kubra fi Tarikh Al-Bahrain’ [The Great Uprising in Bahrain’s History], Al-Qafilah, 26
October 1954, 1.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 76