Page 387 - Bahrain Gov annual reports (V a)_Neat

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE POLICE 1926-1956
1926. Before 1925 the Manama Municipality controlled a body of about 200 armed
watchmen, known as ‘‘Naturs” who were considered sufficient to preserve law and order in
Bahrain. They were a tough lot of men and were greatly feared especially by the Shia villagers.
In 1925 it became necessary to employ a stronger force and a Levy Corps of 200 so-called
Muscat Baluchis was enlisted for service in Bahrain ; in fact they were not pure Baluchis but
a mixture of Africans, many of whom spoke Swahili, Baluchis and Omanis. They were com­
manded by a British officer seconded from the Indian Army. The Levy Corps men were more
disciplined and efficient than the naturs and on various occasions they did very good work.
The practice of employing men from other parts of the Gulf was not new, for many years
the personal guards of the Shaikhs of Bahrain were Baluchis whose descendants still live in
Bahrain, now hardly distinguishable from the Arabs among whom they have lived for so many
generations. The Levy Corps was supported by the naturs who were commanded by a minor
Shaikh of the Khalifah family known as the Amir. The main duty of the naturs was to guard
the bazaars at night when no member of the public was allowed in the bazaar without a lantern,
but when necessary they carried out other duties.
In 1926 conditions in Bahrain were very different from what they are now. Shaikh Hamed
bin Isa, the father of the present Ruler, had lately become Duputy Ruler in place of his aged
father, Shaikh Isa, who had unwillingly been persuaded to retire from active participation in
affairs of state and had handed over the control of the country to his son. There was much
opposition to Shaikh Hamed from certain members of the Ruling Family and from many
important Arabs who feared that the reforms which he introduced, especially in the pearl
industry, would injure their interests. He was supported, however, by most of the Shias.
Attacks by gunmen on Shia villages were frequent and there was general fear that the powerful
Dawasir tribe who had left their town at Budeya and crossed to the mainland of Saudi Arabia,
would return and attack the coastal villages. For years the Dawasir had regarded themselves
as above the law and when the Shaikh finally decided to take strong action against them they
departed secretly one night in their fleet of pearling dhows with their possessions, their slaves
and their arms. They never did return in force and eventually their lands in Bahrain, which
had been confiscated, were given back to them.
In the summer of 1926 a series of incidents occurred which aggravated the general unrest.
An attempt was made to murder the Chief of Police, Haji Sulman bin Jasim and other govern­
ment officials were shot at. Then an incident took place at the Fort which was repeated almost
exactly in every detail thirty years later.
A Baluchi Levy man fancied himself aggrieved by one of the Indian officers. Taking his
rifle he went to the open window of the Police Office inside the fort compound. Inside the
office the Indian-Officer was standing talking to the Political Agent who sat at a table. The
Levyman shot the officer in the back, the bullet passed through him and grazed the Political
Agent’s ear. Another Indian officer ran to the office, he too was shot, both Indians were killed
The Baluchi then turned on the Political Agent, who tried to secure him, and jabbed him in
several places with a bayonet. He then gave himself up.
On November 22nd, 1957, a Baluchi of the State Police who felt that he had been ill-treated
by an Iraqi officer, with long service in the Bahrain Police, walked into the Police Office at the
fort, shot and killed the officer, who was sitting at a desk and then shot and killed an Arab
officer who was in the room who tried to stop him. After shooting and wounding a sentry at
the gate the man gave himself up. Both men were tried, sentenced and shot.
It was thought in 1926, by some, that the murder was part of a general plot against the
State. This was not the case. Both murders were the result of personal imagined grievances.
The Levy Corps was disbanded, the men were shipped back to Muscat and a detachment
from one of the Punjabi regiments was hurriedly brought to Bahrain, but lawlessness continued.
There were more attacks on villages with casualties on both sides. Then four men, from behind
a fence on the Budeya road, shot at Shaikh Hamed when he was driving out at night to one of
his houses on the coast. Because the powerful headlights of his car swung on to them as the
car rounded a corner they were dazzled and though shots hit the car, nobody was injured.
Several months later three of the men were captured, one was shot while trying to escape and <
two were sentenced to imprisonment for life. They were sent to the Andaman islands
.