Page 351 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

07

POLICE AND PUBLIC SECURITY
The Police.
Origin of the Police.—The first regular police in Bahrain were members of a force which
consisted mostly of local Persians controlled and paid by the Manama Municipality. Before this
force existed law and order were maintained by the Shaikh's fidawis, armed retainers of the Ruler
who worked under the orders of his Amir. The methods of the fidawis were rough and ready and they
were greatly feared throughout the country, especially by the Shia Bahama in the villages. When
the late Shaikh Hamed became Deputy Ruler a Levy Corps of so-called Baluchis was recruited from
Muscat and this force with some of the Persian police and a body of naturs, armed watchmen, made
up the armed forces of the State in 1926. The naturs were a development from the fidawis, they
were mostly Arabs but instead of being the personal retainers of the Shaikhs they were enlisted for
specific duties and paid by the Government. The practice of employing Baluchis in Bahrain was
an old one and dated back to the days of the early Khalifah Shaikhs who maintained
bodyguards of Baluchis. The descendants of the Shaikhs’ Baluchi guards arc still living
in Bahrain though in manners and appearance they are now indistinguishable from the
local Arabs. The men who formed the Levy Corps in 1926 were not however pure Baluchis, they
were of mixed African, Baluchi and Omani blood. For some years the Levy Corps was commanded
by British officers, first by officers seconded from the Indian Array for duty with the Bahrain State
and later by a British officer in the service of the State who also acted as Assistant to the Adviser.

Conditions Twenty Years Ago.—It is difficult in 1946 to realise the tremendous difference
between the state of public security to-day and the conditions which existed in Bahrain twenty years
ago. Shaikh Hamed bin Isa had recently become Deputy Ruler in place of his father Shaikh Isa
bin Ali who after ruling for sixty years unwillingly handed over the control of affairs to his son. There
was bitter opposition to the new regime from certain members of the Ruling Family and from many
of the leading Arabs especially those who held big interests in the pearl industry, these put up a
determined fight against the reforms which had been introduced by Shaikh Hamed, though in later
years most of the people who opposed the reforms most strongly came to approve of them. Almost
the only supporters of the new regime were the Shia Bahama.

Frequent attacks were made on the Shia villages and men, women and children were murdered
and robbed by armed gunmen. In the country few people dared to venture out at night, unless they
were armed, and for years there was a general fear that the Dawasir Arabs would make a descent on
Bahrain. The Dawasir tribe lived at Budeya. They owned much property in Bahrain and had a
fleet of pearling dhows, they were notorious for their unruliness and never submitted to the authority
of the Shaikh. When action was about to be taken against them the whole tribe crossed the sea to
the mainland, where they have lived ever since. This exodus brought relief to the neighbouring
villages, which had suffered severely from their depredations, but it was regarded by the Shaikhs
as derogatory to the State that any tribe should wish to leave the country and for many years con­
ciliatory but unsuccessful efforts were made to persuade them to return.

In 1926 a series of incidents occurred which aggravated the general feeling of unrest. The
Chief of Police was shot at in Manama, one of the men in the Levy Corps ran amuck and shot and
killed an Indian officer and an Indian havildar, he then attacked and wounded the Political Agent.
The man was sentenced and shot and though the incident was the action of one individual the Levy
Corps was hurriedly disbanded and the men were sent back to Muscat. A detachment of Indian
Army troops commanded by a British officer was brought to Bahrain. A month later an attempt,
which almost succeeded, was made to assassinate the Shaikh. As he was driving out of Manama in
the evening four men fired at his car from close range as he passed between two gardens on the Budeya
Road, these men were eventually rounded up by the State Police and arrested four years later, finally
the village of Senobis, about two miles outside Manama, was attacked by an armed band and about
half a dozen people were killed.