Bahrain denies participation in Gulf Corporation Council opposing Qatar’s support for terrorism

Manama, October 31: Amidst Gulf crisis, Bahrain acting tough on Qatar said that it will not participate in any summit or meeting attended by Doha which has fallen in major diplomatic crisis since five months. Notably, The king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on Monday said his country will not take part in any summit or meeting attended by Qatar unless Doha unless and until Doha corrects its approach on the terrorism issue. 

The Arab quartet including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have cut the diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed stringent economic sanctions on it over supporting extremism or terrorism. Doha has repeatedly denied the allegation.

Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said that Qatar had shown that it did not respect the treaties and charters that the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) was founded upon. "As long as Qatar continues this approach, the Kingdom of Bahrain cannot participate in any GCC Summit or meeting attended by Qatar unless it corrects its approach, comes to its senses, and responds to the demands of the countries that suffered so much from its policies," the King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa added.

However, there is no immediate response from Qatar over this. Interestingly, a Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) is scheduled to take place in December in Kuwait, which is also trying to mediate the Gulf diplomatic crisis. The GCC is a political and economic alliance of six countries in the Arabian peninsula including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

BACKGROUND:

In the month of June this year, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and several other nations cut ties with Qatar and imposed stringent economic sanctions on it over supporting extremism. On the other side, Qatar denied all their allegations saying that they never supported Islamist militants and Shi'ite Iran. Later, Saudi and its allies issued a 13-point list of demands to end the rift on June 22 and gave Qatar 10 days to comply. However, earlier Qatar rejected to fulfill the demands.