Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Dubai: Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani said that his country is facing an unjust campaign that coincided with the visit by US President Donald Trump to the region which aimed to link it with terrorism and tarnish its efforts to achieve stability.

“The causes and motives of the campaign are well-known and we will pursue the countries and organisations behind them in order to protect Qatar’s leading role regionally and internationally in a way that preserves the dignity of the state and its people,” Shaikh Tamim said as he attended a graduation ceremony of national service recruits on Tuesday.

“We deplore the accusation against us that we support terrorism despite our ongoing efforts with our brothers and our participation in the international coalition against Daesh. The real danger is the behaviour of some governments that caused terrorism by adopting an extremist version of Islam that does not reflect its tolerance and that were unable to confront it except by issuing labels that criminalized every fair activity,” the emir said, quoted by Qatar News Agency (QNA).

Shaikh Tamim said that nobody had the right to accuse Qatar of terrorism just because the Muslim Brotherhood has been labeled a terrorist organisation. No one also has the right to reject the resistance status of Hamas and Hezbollah, he added.

The emir called “the brothers” in Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain to reconsider their anti-Qatar stances and to end their continuous anti-Qatar campaigns.

“Qatar does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country no matter how much it deprived its people of their freedom and rights,” he added.

Shaikh Tamim said that Qatar’s relations with the US were strong and robust despite the unfavorable trends of the current American administration.

“However, we are confident that the situation will change because of the judicial investigations into the violations and abuses by the US President.”

Shaikh Tamim pointed out that Al Udeid base represents a shield for Qatar from the ambitions of some neighbouring countries and the only opportunity for the US to wield military influence in the region, in an entanglement of interests beyond the ability of any administration to change it.

Referring to the Arab-Islamic-American summit in Riyadh and attened by Qatar, Shaikh Tamim reiterated his thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud for the warm welcome and gracious hospitality. The emir called for well-balanced and serious action away from emotions and misjudgements that could pose new risks and ravage the region again.

Shaikh Tamim said that Qatar does not recognize terrorism or extremism and that it wishes to contribute to achieving a just peace between Hamas, the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and Israel thanks to its regular contacts with both parties.

Qatar has no enemies thanks to its flexible policies, he said.

The emir stressed that Qatar has succeeded in building strong relations with the US and Iran at the same time “because it is unwise to escalate the situation with Iran”.

Shaikh Tamim called for devoting attention to development and tackling poverty instead of engaging in exaggerated arms deals that increased tension in the region.

The emir said that Qatar remained committed to its firm political positions towards the just causes of Arab people regardless of how often it has been targeted by attempts to distort its reputation.

However, Qatar later said that the statements attributed to Shaikh Tamim were false and that the QNA website had been hacked.

“The Qatar News Agency website has been hacked by an unknown entity,” reported the Government Communications Office in a statement.

“A false statement attributed to His Highness has been published.”

It added that an investigation would be launched into the security breach and that, at this stage, it was unclear who was behind the hack.

Qatar also reported that the Twitter account of the news agency had been hacked and that hackers “attributed false statements to the Minister of Foreign Affairs ordering five Arab ambassadors to leave Qatar.”

Gulf News Report

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