Page 221 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

The Trucial States in 1939: The Dawn of a New Age >87
since his arrival'.27 He was retained on the sloop and taken to
Bahrain, where the Political Agent at first refused to allow him visitors,
but after four days let him return home.
Once Sultan had been removed, peace was restored in Kalba.
Barul gained in strength, and by the end of June the Residency
Agent had reported that Barut had been elected to serve as regent
until the coming of age of Shaykh Hamad.28 Fowle felt, however,
that the election of Barut was unsuitable, in view of his ‘servile
origin’,29 and decided to ask the notables to select a council of
regency, which would then be recognised by the British Government.
At the end of August, news reached the Residency of a second
attempt by Khalid bin Ahmad to gain control of Kalba; once
again, he left Dhayd with fifty followers and started the journey
to Kalba. Fowle was in London at the time, and Olaf Caroe,
officiating as Political Resident, considered that, ‘if Khalid could
obtain the acquiescence of the people of Kalba, his election as
Regent . . . was likely in the circumstances that had arisen to
afford the most satisfactory solution’;30 he therefore decided to
give Khalid ‘reasonable encouragement’.31 The Residency Agent
accordingly visited Kalba in HMS Deptford ‘in pursuance of Sir
Trenchard Fowlc’s decision to induce the notables to agree to
elect a Council’.32 He arrived on 14 September and found that
Khalid was at Khawr Fakkan, north of Kalba town, and that
Barut and the notables had already invited him to become regent.
Khalid at first refused to enter Kalba without the permission of
the British authorities, but the Residency Agent assured him that
there would be no objection, so he accepted. He was then elected
regent, having signed a written agreement to safeguard the interests
of Shaykh Hamad, and to retain Barut as wali of Kalba.33
Khalid was to prove a strong and able ruler. His alliance with
the Bani Qitab consolidated his position relative to Shaykh Sultan
of Sharjah, and he allayed the fears of Shaykh Sultan of Ras
al-Khaimah that Kalba would revert to Sharjah. Khalid gradually
came to command the allegiance of Fujairah and Dibba, and became
so strong a power in the Shimayliyyah that it was rumoured that
I
he intended to reunite all the Qasimi territories under his rule.
He won over to his side areas that Sultan of Ras al-Khaimah
regarded as his, especially Wadi al-Qawr, a valley opening in the
hills of Oman, between Wadi Hatta and Wadi Ham, and reaching
the sea at the Batinah coast of Muscat.
But Khalid did not continue to live at Kalba. In 1941 he moved
to Dhayd, and then Hirah became his home. His nearness to Sharjah
town so greatly frightened Sultan of Sharjah that the Residency
Agent persuaded Khalid to return to Dhayd. Even then he did
not stay for long, moving yet again; with time he became a restless