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Manama: A controversial Bahraini columnist has come under intense fire from Al Wefaq after she claimed that the society was part of an Iran-backed scheme to replicate the Lebanon situation in Bahrain.
"Iran has set up several societies in Bahrain, including Al Wefaq and Amal Islamic Society. Al Wefaq is deeply involved in political action and is part of a role-playing plot, like Amal and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is a sectarian society that moves only for the sake of a sect and not the nation," Sameera Bin Rajab said on a television programme on Friday evening.
The Shiite columnist, who sits in the Upper House of the bicameral parliament, also charged that Al Wefaq was overstating facts about the status of Shiites in Bahrain to serve its interests.
"Al Wefaq has claimed that there was blatant discrimination against Shiites. It said that 70,000 to 80,000 people have been naturalised, and that is double the real figures. In fact, 90 per cent of the Arabs who were granted Bahraini nationality are Shiites," Sameera said in the 'Last Word' programme. "Al Wefaq is using the injustice and bias complex to win over the Shiites."
Denial by Al Wefaq
But Al Wefaq reacted angrily to the claims, accusing Sameera of "manifest argument, frailty and psychological instability".
"The charges against a society that won two-thirds of the popular vote in the last elections are totally baseless and lack credibility. They are generated by an irrational desire to exact revenge. Al Wefaq has always defended the nation without discrimination between Sunnis and Shiites," the society said yesterday in a statement sent to the media.
"We are in fact used to groundless claims made by [Sameera], such as when she said that Shiites were storing weapons in their community centres," Al Wefaq said.
Sameera, who has staunchly opposed the US occupation of Iraq and repeatedly criticised Iran for its alleged role in the region, waded into controversy in January 2007 when she said the situation in the Gulf was increasingly becoming tense and that several community centres were hiding weapons to use for armed conflicts.
Around 150 community centres threatened to sue her for the claim, but she said she was referring to the region and not to Bahrain.
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