Pakistan's claim to Gwadur: efforts to arrange for Pakistan to lease it from the sultan of Muscat and Oman. Code EA file 1082

This file concerns Pakistan's desire to acquire Gwadur [Gwadar]. It includes correspondence relating to:

• Discussions with O Baig, the Permanent Secretary to the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. There is a possibility that the Sultan of Muscat and Oman Saeed Bin Taimur, having recently completed a treaty of friendship with India, may grant possession of Gwadar to India (1-3)
• Report on a conversation with Akhter Hussein, acting Foreign Minister of Pakistan. As the Sultan is reluctant to sell, Akhter Hussein is advised to negotiate a lease (4)
• Discussions between the British and Pakistani Governments, including a conversation between Lord Swinton, the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and the Pakistan Prime Minister on 12 June (5, 6, 8, 12-13)
• Question of the legal basis of the Sultan's title to Gwadar (7, 9, 11, 14, 17-19)
• Background to the proposal made in 1947 to transfer Gwadar to India (10)
• Confirmation that Pakistan has established customs posts to control the frontier between Pakistan and Gwadar (15)
• Report that caravans are entering Gwadar by bribing the Pakistani officials concerned, and in consequence imports have increased (16)
• Draft lease, and the potential problem created by the absence of a clause recognising the Sultan's continued sovereignty, which he is likely to insist on as a condition of the lease (20)