Bahrain: Al-Griffi – the only way out of the crisis is through reforms

Addressing his followers on Friday, Abdullah al-Griffi, a prominent Bahraini cleric called on the government to compromise with the opposition in order to get the country out of its current crisis.
He warned that unless the regime is willing to seriously compromise on a series of issues nothing would even change and Bahrain would continue to suffer.

In an interview this Friday, the cleric stressed that for any form of national reconciliation to take place the government would have to punish those responsible for the killings of innocent civilians and the destruction of mosques.

He strongly warned against the rise of sectarian sentiment in the country, stressing that the government needs immediately to stop its segregative policy as it would lead Bahrain to self-implode.

In order to retain its hold over power, Bahrain royal family – Sunni faction – has been targeting the Shiite community, hoping that repression and oppression would deter protesters.

Al-Griffi noted, ” Such a sectarian policy has been engineered on the government. It goes against the interest of Bahrain as a whole, it will ignite violence in between Muslims and create animosity when there was unity and tolerance.”

He explained that external powers are trying to use sectarianism to serve their own political agendas, to the detriment of the region’s balance and harmony.