IOR/R/15/2/633

The file contains the correspondence of the Political Agent, Bahrain, mainly with other British agency, consular and passport authorities in the Persian Gulf and India and also with the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (representing the Bahrain passport authorities). The correspondence concerns suspects and other undesirable individuals returning or travelling to Bahrain and the Trucial Coast. In a series of telegrams and letters, the Political Agent exchanges information, warnings and alerts about the identity, background and intentions of British, British Indian, Arab and other foreign passport holders who should not be granted British visas for Bahrain or, who were already travelling to Bahrain and should be refused permission to land. The file contains personal information about approximately thirty-five individuals, mainly Indians and Arabs, who were suspected or known political agitators, smugglers or frauds. There are also reports and copies of travel documents, including a photograph and associated film transparency of a young Arab man (folio 192), in cases where the suspect or undesirable person was the subject of further investigation or detention.

There are also several exchanges of letters in Arabic, usually with an accompanying English translation, between the Political Agent, Bahrain, the Residency Agent, Sharjah, the Rulers of Bahrain and Qatar and others, about the activities and whereabouts of certain suspects or undesirable persons (folios 10, 11, 17, 20, 92, 95, 97, 98 and 210). Towards the end of the file, there are several warning lists compiled in 1939 by British officials in the Persian Gulf, at the request of the Government of India (folios 131, 133, 163, 169 and 221-223). The lists contain the names of Bahrainis, Indians, Iranians, Kuwaitis and Saudis who should not be granted British visas for entry to India in wartime, on the grounds that they were known or suspected of smuggling, in contact with German or Japanese firms or were otherwise suspicious or undesirable. The file ends with an exchange of letters between the Political Agent, Bahrain, and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bahrain in September 1947, expressing concern over an increased number of Indians wishing to come to Bahrain, in view of the acute housing shortage and the tensions between Hindu and Muslim employees at the Bahrain Petroleum Company (folios 227-229).