Bahrain polls: Alleged anti-Shia plot casts shadow
(AFP)
22 November 2006
MANAMA – Claims of a plot to marginalize Bahrain’s Shia majority have cast a shadow on the runup to Saturday’s legislative polls in the Gulf state despite a gag order on the “Bandargate” affair.
A controversial report by purported British spy Salah Al Bandar in which he claimed to have uncovered the conspiracy will have “a definite impact” on Bahrainis for years to come, said Sheikh Ali Salman, who heads the main Shia opposition political group.
Bandar, a Sudanese-born former government consultant, alleged he exposed a secret organization operating within the Sunni-led government to “deprive an essential part of the population of this country of their rights”—an allusion to Shias.
Bahrain polls: Alleged anti-Shia plot casts shadow
(AFP)
22 November 2006
MANAMA – Claims of a plot to marginalize Bahrain’s Shia majority have cast a shadow on the runup to Saturday’s legislative polls in the Gulf state despite a gag order on the “Bandargate” affair.
A controversial report by purported British spy Salah Al Bandar in which he claimed to have uncovered the conspiracy will have “a definite impact” on Bahrainis for years to come, said Sheikh Ali Salman, who heads the main Shia opposition political group.
Bandar, a Sudanese-born former government consultant, alleged he exposed a secret organization operating within the Sunni-led government to “deprive an essential part of the population of this country of their rights”—an allusion to Shias.
“This group aims to prevent people from participating in electing freely their representatives … in order to transform the political opposition into a mere figure opposition and block any chance of alternation in the executive power,” he charged.
The report reflects “a frame of mind which we should rid ourselves of,” Salman, who heads the Islamic National Accord Association (INAA), told AFP.
“The country has no choice but to build genuine citizenship … It has become necessary to promulgate a law banning any discrimination” in order to build a modern state transcending confessional rifts, Salman said.
The leftist National Democratic Action Association said the issue is “serious because the government is accused.”
“Laws prohibiting discrimination must be introduced,” the group’s chief Ibrahim Sherif told AFP, adding that the debate about Bandargate will heat up after the election to the 40-seat parliament.
“Sunni circles are also troubled,” Sherif said, and even those close to the government were surprised by the report.
“Consequently, the opposition has the ear of Sunni regions where the biggest election rallies of opposition candidates are taking place,” he added.
Bandar, 52, was an adviser on “strategic security” to the Bahraini government, which expelled him from the country in September and subsequently accused him of spying.
The public prosecutor charged Bandar with “several crimes likely to harm the interests of Bahrain and its people,” and with “stealing state documents.”
Bahrain’s high court last month banned the publication of any information on the purported plot.
Opposition groups have demanded an independent investigation into the report, which named minister of state for cabinet affairs Sheikh Ahmad bin Atiyatullah Al Khalifa, a ruling family member.
A Western diplomat said it was important for Bahrain to ”continue its democratic experiment and overcome the shock caused by the report.”
“Failure would have grave consequences because there are some who are waiting for such failure,” the diplomat said in a reference to Islamist radicals.
While candidates in Saturday’s parliamentary polls have refrained from publicly speaking about “Bandargate,” the mainly Shia opposition group Haq said in mid-November it had asked UN chief Kofi Annan to set up an inquiry into the alleged plot.
