Cairo, April 20: The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has highlighted the necessity of dialog in resolving Bahrain’s ongoing crisis, in response to a letter by Iran’s foreign minister.
Dialog is the sole solution to resolve the current situation in Bahrain, Ashton said in her letter to Ali Akbar Salehi, IRNA reported on Tuesday.
In a phone conversation with Ashton in late March, Salehi urged the EU to adopt a transparent stance towards the recent developments in the region including those of Bahrain.
The Iranian foreign minister also forwarded a letter to Ashton’s office.
On March 15, Salehi urged the UN chief to support the legitimate demands of anti-government Bahraini protesters in line with the international commitments of the United Nations.
In a telephone conversation with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Iranian foreign minister expressed concern over the presence of foreign forces in Bahrain to help the Manama regime’s crackdown on protesters.
Later on April 15, Salehi once again called on the UN to take firm and immediate measures to halt Bahrain’s crackdown on the protesters in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
Salehi urged Ban and the president of the UN Security Council to take “serious and immediate action” to stop the killing of people in Bahrain.
The Iranian foreign minister made a reference to the “unimaginable” methods of clampdown on the Bahrainis, including raiding homes, kidnapping individuals, demolishing mosques, dismissal of employees and workers and disrupting routine lives of the population.
“It seems that the Security Council has not paid due attention and [has not] adopted required actions regarding the issue, while in similar developments in other regional countries we have witnessed a different reaction by the [Security] Council,” Salehi said in his letter.
He has also called on the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to act against “the widespread violation of children’s rights in Bahrain.”
In a letter sent to the executive director of the UNICEF, Anthony Lake, Salehi urged the world body to stop the violation of children and women’s rights in Bahrain.
Anti-government protests against the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain began in mid-February.
In March, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait deployed their troops in Bahrain to reinforce the brutal armed clampdown on mass protests.
Scores of protesters have been killed and many others gone missing during the harsh crackdowns.
The Human Rights Watch reports that more than 400 opposition activists and protesters have been arrested in Bahrain in recent weeks.
——–Agencies