The secretary general of Bahrain’s main opposition party, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, said that the ruling Al Khalifa regime’s policy to grant citizenship to foreign nationals threatens the future of Bahraini nation.
In a message posted on his twitter account, Sheikh Ali Salman warned about the trend of political naturalization in Bahrain, and described it as a threat to the national identity of the Persian Gulf island state.
“The future of our children, including Shiite and Sunni Muslims, in Bahrain is facing the threat posed by... granting citizenship to foreigners,” Salman said, likened the policy to "cancer".
The Bahraini opposition figure pointed to the recent remarks made by the Pakistan’s ambassador to Bahrain, who said the number of Pakistani nationals receiving Bahraini citizenship is on the rise, and stated that the remarks by the envoy proves the statistics provided by the Bahraini opposition for the number of foreign nationals to whom Al Khalifa has granted citizenship.
Jauhar Saleem had earlier said that based on official statistics, around 30,000 Pakistani nationals are already holding Bahraini passports and 5,000 more are on the waiting list.
Since 1980s, the ruling Al Khalifa regime has been trying to change the Kingdom’s demographic structure which largely consists of Shiites.
Measures have also been taken by Manama to limit the electoral power of the Shiite majority including granting Bahraini citizenship and the right to vote to 20,000 tribal Sunnis from Saudi Arabia, without having to fulfill the criteria of citizenship.
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