Page 302 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

240 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
who were, and have always been, declared by the Omanis as ‘irre­
ligious' and non-representative of the people of Oman. And, according
to Lorimer, in the years 1877 and 1895, Muscat and Mutrah were
‘occupied unopposed’ by the forces of the Imam, in spite of‘a written
remonstrance from the British Political Agent’.1 The British Agent,
although abstaining from supporting the Sultan against the Imam’s
revolution, had not in fact favoured the demands of the Imam.2 How­
ever, it appears that after the revolution of 1895 a reversal of British
policy of strict ‘neutrality’ towards the alTairs of Muscat and Oman
was advocated by those concerned with British policy-making in the
Gulf.3 The initiative towards this aim came from the British Govern­
ment of India which suggested one of three courses:
(a) The annexations of Muscat and Mutrah to the British Crown
and sending the Sultan on pension;
(/?) the establishment of British protectorate over Muscat and
Oman, or,
(c) making it clear to the tribes of the interior
that, whatever differences they might have with their Sultan, the British
Government would not, in view of the importance of British interests at
those places, permit attacks upon Muscat and Mutrah.4
Subsequently the third course was adopted. This committed the
British authorities in Muscat to supporting the authority of the Sultan
in the towns of Muscat and Mutrah but not in Oman.5 Oman, there­
fore, continued for many years past to be governed directly by an
elective ‘Imamatc’ which owed no allegiance to the government of the
Sultan of Muscat. In fact, all authorities agree that the Sultan's writ
had never, before 1955, reached Oman.6 When the Sultan sent, in
1898, a garrison to Sur, in the interior of Oman, it was expelled by
the Omanis by force of arms. Similarly, the work of the expedition
sent by the Sultan in 1901, to examine the coal deposit in the hinter­
land of Sur was obstructed by the Imam.7 But, whenever there was
fighting between the Sultan and the Omanis, the British Government
came to the assistance of the Sultan.8
1 Lorimer, pp. 482-505. 2 Ibid., pp. 536-9. 3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., pp. 550-1; Aitchison, pp. 277-8. 6 Lorimer, pp. 578-9.
c See Thesiger, W., ‘Desert Borderlands of Oman’, Geographical Journal, vol.
116, Octobcr-Dcccmber (1950), pp. 151-2. The writer states that the representa­
tives of the Imam ‘are to be found in every group or village where they administer
justice and collect taxes .. . The “Badu” do . . . recognise the Imam as their over-
lord’* Ecclcs, G. J., ‘The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman’, Journal of the Central
Asian Society, vol. 14 (1927), p. 27; The British Royal Institute of International
Affairs The Middle East, A Political and Economic Survey, 2nd cd. (1951), pp.
J36-7; Johnson, P., Journey into Chaos (1958), p. 146; Philby, H. St J. B., ‘Britain
and the Sultan’, The Manchester Guardian, 21 August 1957.
7 Lorimer, pp. 580-1. ...
* Ibid., pp. 590-8; Aitchison, pp. 280, 284; Philby, op. cit.