Senior Bahrain Cleric Calls [P]GCC Withdraw the Forces and Solve the Crisis Instead of Being a Part of It

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - In his Friday sermon, The Secretary General of Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, Sheikh Ali Salman, spoke about the military intervention of the GCC Peninsula Shield force in Bahrain saying it was a strategic mistake that has given the internal crisis a regional dimension and further complicated it. Salman said those who have interfered in the crisis including the Persian Gulf countries are now tangled in Bahrain's mistakes and weighted with its negative consequences.

"There was no foreign interference or attack that necessitated an intervention from the Peninsula Shield. Therefore, this force's intervention against the demands movement in Bahrain is absolutely rejected and we hereby, call on the Persian Gulf Council Countries to withdraw the forces and take part in solving the crisis in Bahrain and not being a part of it".

"What goes on in any of the Persian Gulf countries is an internal issue between the people and the government, and no one has the right to interfere. No agreement permits this. In fact, no such agreement can be made. When the Omani people revolt, the problem is solved in between the people and their government and so is the matter with the Kuwaiti people or any other nation in the Persian Gulf."

Salman also spoke of the systematic discrimination and exclusion policy that dissidents had suffered throughout decades and that has reached its peak during the past two years. This policy existed before and after Bahrain's independence of the British colonialism and the British documents prove that this, he added, so has the Bassiouni report and the Bandar* report has uncovered it.

--------------------------------------
*The Bandar report is named after the government consultant who leaked information and documents on a planned and organized policy to exclude dissidents and change the demographic structure in Bahrain through political naturalization.


/129