The raging controversy in Bahrain over a telephone call made by Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa to Qatar Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is not in the interests of the island nation, former Qatar Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani has said.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim was referring to a telephone call made by Prince Khalifa bin Salman to Amir to convey his greetings at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, which had triggered a furore in Bahrain.
Prince Khalifa’s call, the first in two years since the current blockade started against Qatar, was widely reported in the regional and international media and was interpreted as the beginning of a thaw in relations between Qatar and Bahrain. Bahrain is one of the Gulf countries which have imposed a blockade on Qatar.
Bahrain later downplayed the call. “The call between his royal highness the prime minister and the Emir of Qatar does not represent the official position of the kingdom of Bahrain and does not affect its commitments with its brotherly countries of Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt regarding Qatar’s implementation of its commitments to the agreements of 2013 and 2014,” Bahrain’s Cabinet Affairs Minister Mohamed Ibn Ibrahim al-Motawaa later said in a statement, published by the BNA.
There was speculation that the phone call had sparked old tensions within the Bahraini government as also between Bahrain and other Gulf countries, the Middle East Eye had reported.
The controversy over the phone call is still hotting up, with supporters of Saudi and the UAE continuing to cast aspersions on Prince Khalifa over his action.
The Middle East Eye report said that older Gulf leaders considered Prince Khalifa to be Bahrain’s real ruler, while they saw the emir as “weak”, and the younger, powerful crown princes of the UAE and Saudi Arabia are now siding with the Bahraini emir and wish to sideline his prime minister.
In a series of tweets, Qatar’s former prime minister praised Prince Khalifa bin Salman and said that criticism of Bahrain’s prime minister over the call was unwarranted. “This mess in Bahrain created against a person only because he contacted the Amir of a brotherly country with a lot of close ties certainly would not benefit Bahrain,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said in a tweet.
He praised the Bahraini premier as a man of conviction and strong views. “History would testify that His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman is a man of firm positions. He would not change to become friendly or hostile according to the situation, and was stubborn in defending his country during the dispute between Qatar and Bahrain, which he did with all his strength and with respect for the national position of his country.”
“When the dispute ended, his relations with Qatar were balanced and normal. However, his attitude during the dispute and after the dispute were indicative of his serenity and confidence. I remember his attitude when he represented his country at a summit where an agreement was signed to go to court (to solve the dispute). He was firm and stubborn in favour of his country,” former Qatar prime minister said.
“I respect him from that day because he demonstrated his high patriotism. He does not need my testimony and I also do not need to say something I’m not convinced of,” he asserted.