Manama: Bahrain’s government has ruled out the participation of people who supported violence and acts of sabotage in the much-anticipated new round of national dialogue.
“The dialogue will be only between political societies and will not include parties that supported violence,” Sameera Bin Rajab, the state minister for information affairs and the official spokesperson for the government, said.
“There is absolutely no dialogue with any side that backs violence or terrorism as they are not concerned with the national dialogue. The dialogue is only with political societies with the aim of reaching agreements on various issues,” she told the media following the weekly cabinet session on Sunday.
A new round of talks is expected to start soon after the political sessions of the national dialogue launched on February 10 last year were suspended in early January following a decision by the opposition and then by another coalition of political societies to pull out.
Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa moved in to call for a new format of the dialogue with an approach that would allow the resumption of the dialogue under new terms acceptable to all participants. All parties had been requested to send in their views and visions on the issues to be taken at the rounds.
“The views had been submitted and they are being studied. The preparation process is going on,” the spokesperson said.
Bahrainis hope that the new round of dialogue would help their country put behind months of painful events and dramatic developments by brining all parties to sit and agree on common plans ahead.
