Thursday, March 24, 2011

ISTANBUL: The situation in Bahrain is at a “very dangerous stage,” Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa, told Turkish television channel NTV Wednesday.

“What is happening in Bahrain is now at a very dangerous stage. There is stability but we are absolutely afraid of the division between religious communities,” Khalifa said in the interview with over-voice translation.

Khalifa said Turkey and Bahrain should have a common policy on the division between religious communities in the Islamic world.
The foreign minister visited predominantly Muslim Turkey to discuss the unrest in his country. “In the whole region we should have a strategic agreement on how we would proceed in this transformation process,” he said, referring to the uprisings in the Arab world.

At least 20 people have been killed in Bahrain since the start of protests last month by the mainly Shiite majority calling for political reform. Human-rights groups and doctors have also complained that access to medical care has been hampered since security forces raided Bahrain’s busiest medical complex last Wednesday.

In the first official comment on casualties, the government said Wednesday that 30 people had been wounded in the crackdown last week, including 22 who are facing investigation over their role and five who are in a critical condition.

A government spokeswoman said 12 patients who were in a stable condition had been moved to the military hospital and would face criminal investigation. Another 10 patients who face investigation remain at Salmaniya hospital as their condition did not allow them to be moved.

“Admissions to Salmaniya Medical Complex have continued throughout the recent period and at no point have supplies been in jeopardy,” Maysoun Sakbar said.
“For a maximum period of approximately one hour, access to the hospital was limited, but even then emergency cases were still admitted,” Sakbar told reporters.

She said the hospital was raided because it had been “overrun by political and sectarian activity.”
Manama last week brought in forces from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to help quell the protests.
The move angered Iran and street protests against the intervention have also been held in Iraq and Lebanon, which are among the few Arab states where Shiites outnumber Sunnis.

Highlighting growing tensions in the region, Bahrain’s state-run Gulf Air said Wednesday in a statement on its website that all flights to Iran and Iraq had been suspended until March 31, without giving a reason. Bahrain also suspended Tuesday flights to and from Lebanon. – Reuters, AFP