IOR/R/15/6/184

Following on from the previous file (IOR/R/15/6/183), this file mainly concerns issues arising in relation to the boundary between Muscat-controlled Gwadur [Gwadar] and the state of Kalat. It features the following principal correspondents: the British Agent, Gwadur; the Political Agent and Consul, Muscat; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Agent to the Governor-General and Chief Commissioner in Baluchistan; the Minister of External Affairs, Muscat and Oman; the Sultan of Muscat and Oman [Sa‘īd bin Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; officials of the Government of India's External Affairs Department.

The file includes discussion of the following: reports that Kalat state authorities are building a road which will pass through Muscat territory; reports of coast watchers of Kalat state patrolling in the Gwadur area; details of the Gwadur district, including its extent and limits, its customs and its population size; reports of Muscat subjects being mistreated and subjected to forced labour in Kalat state; the case for laying down a 'working line' of the Gwadur-Kalat boundary for the benefit of British political officers on each side, and whether the Sultan of Muscat and Oman and the Khan of Kalat should both be informed of such an arrangement; whether the question of the formal demarcation of the Gwadur-Kalat boundary should be reopened; dissatisfaction among neighbouring tribal leaders near Gwadur over the Sultan of Muscat's recent decision to cease paying their annuities.

Also included in the file are four maps depicting Gwadur and the surrounding region. The Arabic language material mainly consists of correspondence between British officials in the Gulf and representatives of Muscat and Oman.