Manama: A Bahraini minister has urged Bahrain's media and rights activists to avoid exacerbating tension between Manama and Doha over the detention of fishermen in Qatar.
"We want a prompt settlement of this issue and we urge newspapers and human rights organisations here not to fuel tension," Ebrahim Al Hadi, MP for the Islamic Menbar, said. "Many families of the fishermen have contacted me to plead for composed statements and coverage by activists and the media in order not to provoke the Qataris and compound the situation for their relatives," he said.
Tension flared between the two neighbours last month after a Bahraini fisherman, Adel Al Taweel, was shot by Qatari coastguards claiming he had not heeded their warning to leave Qatari waters.
The wounded fisherman was taken to hospital in Doha, but local authorities refused to allow him to go home despite pleas by a medical delegation and Bahraini rights activists who made the trip to Qatar to repatriate him.
Manama reacted by calling for the release of 107 Bahraini and Asian fishermen held by Doha for straying into Qatari waters.
Bahraini media and human rights activists put intense pressure on Qatar to allow the detainees to go home. However, despite the barrage of criticism, Doha remained adamant that the Bahrain-based fishermen be tried for entering Qatari waters il legally.
Bahraini officials, on Wednesday, adopted a more reconciliatory approach with Doha, saying that the Qataris needed to protect their resources and borders.
According to Colonel Ala'a Al Deen Seyadi, Bahrain Coastguard Commander, the areas where most Bahrain-based fishermen are arrested is known to be a drug exchange zone or located close to large gas fields.
Seyadi said that following the release of some of the detainees, 16 Bahrainis and 72 Bahrain-based expatriate fishermen were being held in Doha for entering Qatari waters illegally.
