A high-profile Bahraini delegation of national unity told Youm7 that the role of Sunnis in Bahraini political life has been activated. They said Bahrain's regime should be reformed, not overthrown. The delegation presented its political and social views of the recent events in Bahrain, the Iranian role and Arab, Gulf, and international situations. Youm7: What is the objective of your visit to Cairo after the January 25 uprising? Abdullah Hashem, a leader of the delegation: We aim to send an implicit message to the Bahraini and Egyptian societies that that there are public national opposition powers with their own visions of the events in Bahrain. The national unity gathering, headed by Dr. Abdel Latif al-Mahmoud, is an alliance comprised of a number of political assemblies and political activists. With 350,000 members, the alliance was the first Sunni group in Bahraini political history. The alliance managed to comprise the third part of Bahrain's political scene, after the ruling political regime and the Shiites. The alliance contradicts Shiite ambitions to exclude Sunnis from the Bahraini political scene and to monopolize the opposition's role in front of the ruling regime. The gathering, as part of the Bahraini people, paved the way for GCC troops to interfere in support of the ruling regime, not to supports its policies but to achieve stability. Overthrowing the ruling regime in Bahrain may lead to an Iraqi model and could open the door for sectarian persecution. Youm7: Did you participate in the political equation to call for the republican regime or to compete with the other sect? When did you start moving? Ahmed Sanad Al-Baali, the Secretary General of the Bahraini "Al-Wasat" assembly, answered: We realized the danger after call for a rally on February 14. Anxiety came from two main factors: First, the political nature of the call was sectarian. It was represented by Shiites, as political opponents, and two leftist groups, whose participation aimed at confusing national and sectarian tendencies. Second, the regional atmosphere of uprisings is an external factor to motivate other Arab peoples to adopt the same slogans and demands. These two factors could lead to the victory of a sectarian movement in Bahrain, which could lead to sectarian persecution as was witnessed in Iraq. In the beginning, we responded to the call for a rally, demanding economic and political reforms to achieve social justice, distribution of wealth and reviewing income sources. We rallied six assemblies from 14-21 February to support the call. But we retreated after realizing the Shiites intention to overthrow the ruling regime, which raised our fears of being a half-Arab state like Iraq, which Iran controls through “Al-Dawaa” Party, the Iraqi Supreme Council and the Sadrist group. Youm7: Is Sunni-Shiite split in Bahrain new or old? Mohamed al-Ahmed, journalist for "Al-Ayam" newspaper, said: Opposition in Bahrain is always sectarian and Shiite. It always participates in the political process and won 18 of 40 seats in Bahrain's parliament. Its political rhetoric includes protests against the ruling regime – revolutionary speech isn't new to Bahrain, but it increased in an unprecedented way on February 14, thanks to Iranian mobilization. Iran strongly supported overthrowing Bahrain's regime so it could control the power. Iran's role was clear in its support for the ‘Haq' assembly, whose leader announced the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Bahrain. The announcement was considered a type of coup. Additionally, Iran's Khameini said Bahrain is the 14th governorate of Iran. Also, the speaker of Iran's Shura Council said defending the Bahraini people is an Islamic duty. However, Iran's Minister of Defense criticized the interference of GCC troops even though the interference was the result of an agreement between GCC states. So the question is, why are all Iranian declarations limited to Bahrain and not extended to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, or Syria? Youm7: Do you think that what happened in Bahrain is similar to what happened in Egypt? Sanan al-Hafry, human rights activist: Egypt's uprising resulted from injustice, political and financial corruption and poverty. In Bahrain, the ruling regime has begun political reform. It hasn't met the aspiration of the Bahraini people, but the process is continuing to achieve more. What happened in Bahrain resulted from the Arab media's support of the idea of ‘revolution,' which paved the way for a coup d'état, not a revolution. Abdullah al-Hafry: Shiites in Bahrain hoped to win Egyptians' sympathy by raising the same demands and slogans. The Egyptian movement was national, not sectarian: the whole Egyptian people, Muslims and Copts, raised the same demands. Bahrain's protests were not national, they were 100 percent Shiite. Protests moved according to religious reference moved by an Iranian agenda. Youm7: When did political demands increase? Did they simulate Egypt in this regard? In the beginning of the protests, we supported them. We have demanded to restore the 1973 constitution since 1992. After the ascent of the current King to power, he achieved real political changes, such as granting Bahraini women the right to vote. But in Egypt, the uprising managed to turn Egyptians' demands of political and constitutional reform to overthrow the regime. Ahmed Sanad al-Baaly: If we review the history of Bahrain's protests and demands, we would find that in 1954 and 1956 Bahrain witnessed national uprisings. In 1983, 1994 and 1996, demands blurred between national and sectarian demands. On Feb 12 there was a meeting of seven opposition assemblies in which we agreed to collect and present to the King national demands. We don't know those who called for the protests the country witnessed on Feb. 14. Youm7: What was the time of the initiative of Bahrain's Crown Prince? Were there any differences inside the ruling family? Dr. Mona Hagras: The initiative was on Feb 17. Differences in the ruling family were rumors aimed at sparking tension and sectarian sedition in Bahrain. The Crown Prince's call for negotiation aimed to achieve national demands, but the sectarian opposition refused to sit at the negotiating table before achieving all demands. Diaa Shokr: The Bahraini Crown Prince pardoned all imprisoned Shiites and put people such as Dr. Magin al-Alawy in leading positions. Shiites control all critical jobs in Bahrain, so the general strikes in different ministries were successful in achieving their objectives. Youm7: What is the role of the state and Sunnis in dealing with such discrimination? The state is tolerant in dealing with Shiites at the expense of Sunnis. Such tolerance paved the way for discrimination against Sunnis. The state issued amnesty for 14 Shiites who have been reemployed, so they refuse to be employed in private sector jobs and insist on public sector. If they refused to work, they would obtain 300 dinars as a subsidy from the state although adequacy in Bahrain is in 72 dinars per month. Abdullah Hashem: We call for social justice and countering political and financial corruption to achieve prosperity and improve the standard of living. We call for reforming the political regime through expanding the authority of the Bahraini Parliament to supervise national income. We also demand increasing the current subsidies. We want reform but others refuse to sit and discuss the issues, proving the role of the Iranian and other agendas. We refuse such interference and accept to negotiate. Arabic here.
