MP calls for calm amid regional tensions

TDT | Manama

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MP Jalal Kadhem called for an end to sectarian abuse and urged the public to direct comments on sensitive regional issues to the state bodies responsible for addressing them. He warned that “reckless rhetoric can fuel division inside Bahrain”.

The lawmaker said Bahrain had long been known for coexistence and social accord, and said any speech that insults sects or blames a whole group for the acts of a few people is “wrong and against the country’s interest”.

Kadhem said abuse, slander and insults traded on social media between people from the same society should not be dressed up as patriotism.

“True patriotism rests on sober words and measured speech that brings people together,” he said, “not language that drives them apart or strips them of dignity.” He said a personal mistake “must stay personal” and should not be pinned on an entire sect or social group.

All parts of Bahraini society, he said, had helped build the state and had played their part in its growth and stability over many years.

“Fairness means holding the wrongdoer to account as an individual, not as part of a wider group,” he said.

Linking some of the harsher exchanges to the strain across the region, Kadhem said regional tensions and conflict had split opinion between those who support different states.

That divide, he said, had spilled into debate in some societies and had reached Bahrain and other Gulf states through media rows and social media exchanges.