MANAMA - BahrainÂ’s Shiite-led opposition demanded an independent inquiry Wednesday into the expulsion last month of an alleged British spy who claimed to have uncovered a plot to maintain Sunni domination of the Gulf kingdom.| "Mr. Bond, do take care that you don't upset the natives this time." |
“We demand the formation of a neutral commission of inquiry because the affair is exceptional and the contents of the report are serious and threaten national unity,” the association said. “It should be chaired by an independent figure whose nomination should be agreed by both government and opposition,” it said, adding: “The regime’s credibility is at stake.”
Salah Al Bandar, who was expelled from Bahrain last month, said he had uncovered a secret organization operating within the Sunni-led government to “deprive an essential part of the population of this country of their rights”. “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 said, alluding to parliamentary elections due later this year.
| Prevent fair elections, keep the opposition weak and divided, and keep the current executives in power? Sounds like just about every other Arab state, doesn't it. |
Minister of state Sheikh Ahmed bin Attiyatallah Al Khalifa, whom Bandar accused of heading the alleged “secret organisation” within the government, last month denounced the charges as a plot to ”undermine national unity (and) throw doubt on the elections and on certain political personalities.”
| "No, no, certainly not!" |