Jassar, Salafi Alliance slam MPs over street protests

KUWAIT CITY, June 6: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development for Housing Affairs, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, failed to attend a meeting with the Legal and Legislative Committee on Monday to discuss his positions on a grilling submitted against him by MPs Adel Al-Sarawwy and Marzouq Al-Ghanim.

Sources close to the minister have said that Sheikh Ahmed regrets not attending the meeting as he is occupied with the funeral of Sheikh Rashid Al-Humoud who passed away Monday morning, yet speculations on whether the Deputy PM is considering resignation maintained.

Members of the Legal and Legislative Committee declined to comment on the meeting's discussions with the grilling presenters, who had continuously protested the Deputy PM's referral of his interpellation to the committee. However, MP Maasouma Al-Mubarak confirmed that the Deputy MP had sent his apologies and will be attending another meeting on Tuesday on the sidelines of a closed-door parliamentary session, which will discuss state budgets.

Meanwhile, Popular Action Bloc (PAB) spokesman, MP Musallam Al-Barrak, announced on Monday that a petition demanding the resignation of His Highness the Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, as well as Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad, has been completed and is available until Thursday for MPs to sign.

Al-Barrak refused to reveal the proponents of the document, which explains the anti-government MPs' positions, and said it will be read out on Friday during another rally planned by political youth activists in Al-Erada Square.

Al-Barrak revealed that the document requests the PM to apologize for disruptions in the country's development due to government policies and squabbling and added that all those who sign the petition will be calling for a new government with a new approach.

The opposition MP reiterated that another grilling against the PM will be submitted in the near future and will focus on Audit Bureau reports on the government, public funds, as well as legal cases against them. He said that it will be compiled by him and MP Khaled Al-Tahous including other MPs. Al-Barrak added that the government should be punished for harming national unity by supporting corrupt media.

Meanwhile, MP Salwa Al-Jassar and the Salafi Alliance that includes MPs Khaled Al-Sultan and Ali Al-Omair condemned opposition MPs for taking their political opinions to the streets and participating in demonstrations.

In a statement to the press, the Salafi Alliance said that the rallies are creating discord among the people of Kuwait which will ultimately weaken the security and stability of the country. The statement said that the alliance supports the expression of viewpoints if it is within the constitutional and religious framework. It added that the alliance condemns inaccurately interpreting the Constitution and the law with the excuse of creating reforms and fighting corruption.

Respect
On her part, Al-Jassar said that MPs should respect their position and their vow to respect the Constitution and express their opinions within the Parliament. She condemned the "unconstitutional" petition by opposition MPs and said it was an attempt at political upheaval. She said that the opposition rallies do not represent Kuwaiti women, who make up half of the Kuwaiti population, as they did not attend the anti-government rally on Friday even though they were key to the success of opposition MPs by being 25 percent of total votes.

Al-Jassar added that the Kuwaiti people and the GCC are not "revolutionary citizens" as they have never been occupied or colonized. She further described the demonstrations as an attempt to cancel the authority and the prestige of the country and called for the resignation of the opposition MPs.

 Al-Barrak responded to her statements and said that the youth have the right to express themselves and call for the ouster of the PM, noting that only 40 people attended a rally in support of the PM and that the organizer was not Kuwaiti but a Jordanian woman.

He questioned the reasons why Al-Jassar is casting doubt on the loyalty of the anti-government demonstrators while supporting the pro-Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah protestors. He said that a significant number of women did in fact participate in the rally last Friday and that their identity cards were confiscated by security officials, such as the case of the sisters of political activist Khaled Al-Fadalah.

© Arab Times 2011