Tabnak – As Saudi Arabia and its GCC allies continue to pose pressure on Qatar, pressing ahead with their tough demands of the Persian Gulf kingdom, Doha has made it clear that it has no intention to come up with the Saudi demands. At the same time, it tries to shape a kind of international campaign defending its positions.
Citing Qatari foreign minister, Reuters reports that Qatar will reject a series of demands made by several other Arab states. The Qatari official has also said that the Arab countries’ ultimatum was aimed not at tackling terrorism but at curtailing his country's sovereignty.
But Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, speaking to reporters in Rome, said Doha was still ready to sit down and discuss the grievances raised by its Arab neighbors.
"This list of demands is to be rejected, not to be accepted. We are willing to engage in dialogue but under proper conditions," he said, adding that Qatar would not close down a Turkish military base in his country or shut the Doha-based satellite channel Al Jazeera as demanded by the Arab countries.
At the same time, it is reported that Qatar has been lobbying with the non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) against a Saudi-led embargo of the country.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister met with the representatives of the UNSC member states at the Qatari mission to the UN in New York on Friday, urging them to press the sanctioning countries to lift the blockade and to speak out publicly in support of his country, Al Jazeera reported.
Al Thani told Al Jazeera that he had given the UNSC members "updates on the situation” and urged "all of them to call for a lifting of the blockade on Qatar.” Qatar was "trying to encourage all the parties to enter a serious dialog to try to put an end to this,” he said.
Al Jazeera also reports that the Qatari National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has hired a Swiss law firm to investigate what it calls "thousands of cases of human rights violations” from a Saudi-led blockade on Qatar and seek compensation.
NHRC and Lalive signed a contract in Geneva on Saturday that will grant the international law firm the right to pursue the cases of some 2,450 citizens and foreign residents of Qatar, who have been affected by the blockade.
This is while, Saudi Arabia has reiterated that its demands to Qatar to end the stand-off were "non-negotiable". Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, said on Twitter on Saturday that "demands on Qatar to stop funding terrorism are non-negotiable".
"Restrictions on Qatar show zero tolerance for terrorism," Jubeir said, claiming that Doha had failed to keep previous pledges of stopping "funding terrorism and interfering in other countries' affairs". Qatar denies all allegations.
It should be noted that the punitive measures against Qatar have drawn condemnation from rights groups, including Amnesty International, which says the diplomatic dispute has been toying with thousands of lives.
The coordinated move against Doha is spearheaded by Riyadh, which often manages to have its vassal states fall into line. Saudi Arabia itself is known as the main sponsor of the violent Wahhabi terrorists it has accused Qatar of supporting. Some analysts believe the Saudi anger is rather because Qatar acts more independently of Riyadh, including in its relations with Iran.
