Page 40 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

GUADUR

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Now only a minor port lying at 62°E on the Mekran Coast of
Baluchistan in Pakistan, Guadur - also spelled Gwadur — had a
fascinating postal history that spanned just over 90 years; and this
despite the fact that, as a dependency of Muscat, it neither issued its
own stamps nor, in later years, used those in use in Muscat!
The origin of this unusual philatelic enigma lies with the
accession of Ahmed ibn Sa’id as ruler and the establishment, in 1744,
of the A1 bu-Said dynasty in Muscat. When Ahmed died in 1783, his
second son, Sa’id, succeeded him; only to be deposed by his own son,
Hamad, in 1786. Hamad’s reign was marked by struggles with his
uncles, including his father’s youngest brother who was eventually
exiled to Guadur. When Hamad died of smallpox in 1792, this same
Sultan returned to Muscat and seized power. He immediately sent a
force to take possession of Guadur which had been given to him in
perpetuity by the Khan of Khalat during his years of exile.
The dependency thus created consisted of the picturesque little
town of Guadur together with some 300 square miles of the hinterland.
The town itself lies on a low sandy spit connecting a rocky headland
to the coast. The headland is several miles long and rises from its
southern coastline to the northern side where high cliffs dominate the
town. Until 1958, when the dependency was sold to Pakistan, the
ruler of Muscat was represented by a Wali.
Guadur acquired some importance when, following the Indian
Mutiny in 1857, the need arose for telegraphic communication between
India and London. The original intention had been to establish a land­
line from Karachi along the Persian Coast and so through Iraq and
Turkey; but Persian objections finally led to an overland route being
constructed from Karachi to Guadur, whence a submarine cable was
laid to Fao at the head of the Persian Gulf. Guadur thus became an
important station on the Indo-European Telegraph Service which
opened on January 27th, 1865.

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