Alwaght- Bahrain accuses Qatar of interfering in the domestic affairs and spying on security and military forces of the tiny Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member-states.
Bahrain's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Published on Monday, claimed Qatar poses a threat to the security of PGCC states as it adopts a discrete policy and harbors extremist and terrorist elements.
Doha continues to undermine security of Persian Gulf Arab states by "sticking to its policy of taking unilateral decisions, accepting and harboring terrorists and extremists," the Bahraini minister alleged.
“There are many facts that condemn the Qatari behavior, such as the attempted assassination of the King of Saudi Arabia, the coup in the UAE and support of conspirators to overthrow the regime in Bahrain. Thankfully, these attempts have failed, and if they had not, their consequences would have been grave,” Al Khalifa said.
He pointed out that Qatar continues to interfere in Bahrain’s internal affairs and spy on its security and military apparatuses, which threatens the country’s national security.
Since 5 June, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar, which they accuse of supporting what they call extremist groups, including Palestinian Hamas resistance movement and the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as having close ties with neighboring Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main rival the west Asia.
Qatar has defended itself against the accusation saying the groups are not extremist, while insisting on having good ties with Iran.
The Saudi-led block later issued demands that Qatar must meet before ties are restored including curtailing its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, shutting down the al-Jazeera TV channel, closing a Turkish military base in Doha and downgrading its ties with Iran. Qatar rejected the demands arguing they are illogical and infringe on its sovereignty.
The Bahraini minister, also went on to say that Qatar has naturalized a number of Bahraini families, has prevented gas export to Manama making the regime to import it from Russia, and has disrupted the construction of a bridge between Bahrain and Qatar.
