KUWAIT CITY, March 25: The Muslim Brotherhood, the main Islamist force that emerged after the Arab Spring, is plotting to take over Gulf states, Dubai’s police chief said in remarks reported on Sunday. Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said he had his reasons to claim that the “Brotherhood was plotting to change the regimes in the Gulf,” in an interview published in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas. “My sources say the next step is to make Gulf governments (their ruling families) figurehead bodies only without actual ruling. The start will be in Kuwait in 2013 and in other Gulf states in 2016,” he said. Khalfan has been involved in a tit-for-tat controversy with the Brotherhood after he threatened earlier this month to arrest cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a leading Brotherhood figure, for criticising the United Arab Emirates for deporting Syrian protesters.The police chief said he based his information on “leaks” from western intelligence agencies and said this “had been known to us”. “If these leaks from western intelligence were to be correct, by 2016 all Gulf rulers” will be just figureheads with no actual power, Khalfan said. “I am warning Gulf states about these groups.” All of the six oil-rich Arab states in the Gulf have been governed for centuries by ruling families that dominate almost every aspect of life and who have the final say on almost everything. These states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — together sit on more than 40 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves and around a fifth of its natural gas. Khalfan said the alleged plot will begin in Kuwait because “it is ready more than any other Gulf state… this is a strategy”. Islamists made an impressive show in a February 2 snap election in Kuwait, securing more than 20 seats in the 50-member parliament.
ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deported dozens of the disciples of noted scholar Dr Israr Ahmad for holding Dars-e-Qur’aan sessions in Dubai, fearing the spread of Talibanisation in the country. The UAE government has also set a deadline for several other Pakistani families to close their businesses and leave the country after it found them involved in religious activities. The Pakistan’s consulate in Dubai is reluctant to share details with the media on the subject. However, the Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed the deportations. “They violated the laws,” FO spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told The News but added that she had no knowledge of the exact numbers of the deportees. According to her account, private religious congregations are not allowed there. Religious gatherings could not be held in Dubai except for the Friday sermon, said a source, adding that the Dars-e-Qur’aan congregation was a private function. The News has learnt that the Dubai police arrested around 70 Pakistanis for attending the congregation. The majority of them are believed to be the disciples of Dr Israr Ahmad. About 30 of them have been deported, while the rest have been directed to wind up their businesses and leave the country by the end of July, Bakhtiyar Khilji, chief administrator of Tanzeem-e-Islami - the party headed by Dr Israr Ahmad - told The News. Khilji feared that this “crackdown” by the UAE government might lead to an en masse deportation of Dr Israr’s followers. “The UAE government happens to be very sensitive to such congregations. The police had arrested the people whenever suspicion of their participants to the Dars-e-Qur’aan congregation arose.” When this correspondent contacted Pakistan consulate in Dubai, Dr Zafar Iqbal, press consular, showed reluctance to share the details, saying it could trigger a controversy. Waseem Ahmad, welfare attache at the consulate, who was directly involved in this issue, also refused to speak on the subject.
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