CR IP TI ON BS SU 40 PAGES
NO: 15366
150 FILS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012
RABIA ALAWAL 29, 1433 AH
www.kuwaittimes.net
Day of drama as Wasmi agrees to delay grilling Mislem meets Amir over jailed youths
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Tweeter held for insulting Shiites
Max 20º Min 12º High Tide 10:51 & 21:20 Low Tide 03:47 & 15:10
By B Izzak conspiracy theories
Stop chewing on tribal sentiments
By Badrya Darwish
badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net
I
f this is our parliament, then God help the nation. We waited anxiously for the previous parliament which wasted our time and the time of the nation to be dissolved. Everybody was looking forward to the new elections and for a fresh look. I wish we had stayed with the old parliament. If you follow the agendas of every new MP from Day 1, honestly speaking you will feel sick. The first day we ignored all the silly and trivial statements. We thought it was the inauguration and the euphoria of elected or reelected MPs who made it into parliament. As I kept on reading the news every day, I saw that we are back to square one there are threats and grillings. They finished throwing threats at Sheikh Nasser and now they have directed their Scud missiles at the new prime minister. The man has hardly been in the seat for two months! Please give the guy a chance. Let’s see what are the important issues they have raised against the prime minister. They want to punish him for personal reasons. Why did he detain the guys who attacked Al Watan TV was one of the issues they were after. The answer is simple: The guys who assaulted the station were arrested and when you attack someone, you get questioned. Secondly, they wanted to know why did the prime minister detain the writer who attacked Shiite clerics. It is obvious why he was detained - he was insinuating hatred. No serious topics have come from these MPs. I am waiting. The way they act and threaten and the words they use are not suitable for legislators. They behave as if we are in a boxing ring and not in parliament. They are using arrogant statements and showing off. Are we in a high school yard? If these are our lawmakers, then God help us over what kind of legislations we are going to get. By the way, many of these MPs carry the title Doctor. They are not those doctors who carry a stethoscope around. They are doctors in law, economy, business etc. And this is the way they speak! I have said before that we are back in the jahiliyya times (pre Islam era) when the peninsula was populated by tribes killing each other. Wars were prevalent and the strong who could fight used to survive. Kuwait is a country with institutions. That is why we have a parliament and that is what MPs are there for. Don’t waste our time! We all come from tribes. Do not keep on chewing on that slogan! Give us a serious agenda, please!
DAIH, Bahrain: An anti-government protester stands with a Bahraini flag in front of approaching police vehicles as another protester runs alongside it yesterday on the edge of the capital Manama. The flag reads: ‘We will return.’ — AP
Riyadh vows ‘iron fist’, blames ‘foreign parties’ Bahrain police disperse march LONDON/MANAMA: Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said yesterday its security forces would use “an iron fist” to end violence in a Shiite area of the country and defended its tactics against what it called foreignbacked troublemakers. Sunni Muslim kingdom Saudi Arabia has blamed an unnamed foreign power, widely understood to mean Shiite Iran, for backing attacks on its security forces in its Eastern Province. But members of the Shiite minority in the area have accused the kingdom’s own security force of using violence against protesters. “It is the state’s right to confront those that confront it first ... and the Saudi Arabian security forces will confront such situations ... with determination and force and with an iron first,” the ministry said in a statement. The statement came in response to a sermon preached in the Qatif area of the Eastern Province last week that criticised the government’s handling of the situation, in which at least six people have been killed, a ministry spokesman said. Shiite activists in Qatif said the clashes first began at the height of the Arab uprisings last year and were provoked by the detention without charge of political campaigners. Four people were killed in November, one in January and one earlier this month, the interior ministry has said in past statements. Members of the minority have long complained of discrimination, which they say makes it harder for them to find gov-
ernment jobs, attend university or worship in open than members of the Sunni majority. Since the protests and clashes started last year, they have also complained of police checkpoints and patrols which they describe as heavy handed. The government says it does not discriminate against Shiites and has said the increased security is intended to protect Qatif residents. It has repeatedly blamed the clashes on people attacking security forces. The statement said the security forces were using “the greatest restraint ... despite continuing provocations” and “will not act except in self defence and will not initiate confrontations”. “Some of those few (who attacked security forces) are manipulated by foreign hands because of the kingdom’s honourable foreign policy positions towards Arab and Islamic countries,” the ministry’s spokesman said in the statement. Saudi Arabia and Iran have fought for influence across the Middle East. Separately, Bahraini police used water cannon and tear gas to break up a march chanting anti-government slogans after a funeral yesterday, while protesters were arrested for approaching a roundabout at the centre of an uprising last year. Bahrain, a US ally and home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since protests erupted on Feb 14 last year, inspired by demonstrations sweeping the Arab world. Continued on Page 13
Syria bolsters troops as Iran warships dock DAMASCUS: Syrian troops massed around Homs, sparking calls yesterday for women and children to flee the besieged flashpoint city, as Iranian warships docked at the port of Tartus in a show of force. The reported buildup came as Mediterranean states meeting in Rome agreed to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and avoid an “Iraqi scenario”, according to Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem. US General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said any intervention in Syria would
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KUWAIT: Newly-elected opposition MP Obaid Al-Wasmi yesterday agreed to “freeze” a grilling he vowed to submit against the prime minister following exerted efforts from other opposition lawmakers and a meeting with HH the Amir over the detention of youth activists. The outspoken Wasmi had vowed to file to grill Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah at a rally late Sunday night over what he described as a policy of “discrimination” against tribesmen and the detention of bedoons, or stateless Arabs. Wasmi arrived at the Assembly early yesterday and declared that he was going to file the promised grilling before the end of working hours yesterday amid objections from his colleagues in the opposition. At one stage, Wasmi gave an ultimatum until 1.30 pm to his opposition colleagues that he will file the grilling alone if they did not participate with him. He also announced that he based his grilling on three major issues - discrimination against tribesmen, the unjustified detention of bedoons and failure to present the government’s program in accordance with the constitution. Leaders of the oppositions hurriedly convened a meeting in which they discussed what action they should take if Wasmi went ahead with his threat and submitted the grilling. The opposition lawmakers later told reporters that they decided not to support the grilling because of suspicions about its timing and motivation, in addition to Wasmi’s failure to consult with them. Several opposition lawmakers like Osama AlMunawer stressed that they do not want to prevent Wasmi from exercising his constitutional right, but at Continued on Page 13
be “very difficult” and that it was “premature” to arm the opposition. China’s influential People’s Daily warned that any Western support for the rebels would trigger a “large-scale civil war”. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad meanwhile met a senior Russian politician in Damascus, who reiterated Moscow’s support for his self-styled reform program and spoke out against any foreign intervention in the conflict, Russian and Syrian news agencies reported. Continued on Page 13
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DAMASCUS: Syrians walk past a jewellery shop with a picture of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad hanging at its main entrance in the bazaar of Damascus’ Old City yesterday. — AFP
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RAWALPINDI: Mohammad Imran holds a Pakistanimade PACPAD computer tablet at his electronics store in this Feb 8, 2012 photo. —AP
Pak military makes tablets KAMRA, Pakistan: Inside a high-security air force complex that builds jet fighters and weapons systems, Pakistan’s military is working on the latest addition to its sprawling commercial empire: a homegrown version of the iPad. It’s a venture that bundles together Pakistani engineering and Chinese hardware, and shines a light on the military’s controversial foothold in the consumer market. Supporters say it will boost the economy as well as a troubled nation’s self-esteem. It all comes together at an air force base in Kamra in northern Pakistan, where avionics engineers - when they’re not working on defense projects - assemble the PACPAD 1. “The original is the iPad, the copy is the PACPAD,” said Mohammad Imran, who stocks the product at his small computer and cell phone shop in a mall in Rawalpindi, a city not far from Kamra and the home of the Pakistani army. The device runs on Android 2.3, an operating system made by Google and given away for free. At around $200, it’s less than half the price of Apple or Samsung devices and cheaper than other low-end Chinese tablets on the market, with the bonus of a local, one-year guarantee. The PAC in the name stands for the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, where it is made. The PAC also makes an e-reader and small laptop. Such endeavors are still at the pilot stage and represent just a sliver of the military’s business portfolio, which encompasses massive land holdings, flour and sugar mills, hotels, travel agents, even a brand of breakfast cereal. Continued on Page 13
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