Qatar’s decision to change its anti-terrorism laws is a positive step, says UAE
However, the UAE’s foreign affairs minister said Doha needed to change its policies to improve its relations with the Saudi-led bloc.
United Arab Emirates’ Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash on Friday lauded Qatar’s decision to amend its anti-terrorism laws and called it a positive step in the ongoing crisis between the country and the four Arab states, Reuters reported.
On Thursday, Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani had announced a decree that establishes two lists for individuals and terrorist entities and lays out the requirements for being included in them. The decree also defines terrorists, terrorist crimes, terrorist entities as well as the financing of terrorism, reported PTI.
“The Qatari decree to amend the anti-terrorism law is a positive step to deal seriously with the 59 terrorists,” Gargash said on Twitter. “The pressure of the crisis has started to bear fruits, and the wiser course would be changing the whole orientation.”
Gargash, however, said Qatar must change its policies in order to ease the tension with the Saudi Arab-led bloc. “It would be wiser [for Qatar] to totally change its [political] orientation,” he said.
On Wednesday, it was reported that the Saudi Arab-led bloc wanted Qatar to accept six broad principles to “combat terrorism and extremism” and put an end to “acts of provocation”.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt had severed diplomatic relations with Qatar accusing it of backing terrorism. Other countries in the region had followed. US President Donald Trump had initially praised Saudi’s move to isolate Qatar. However, the US had later signed an agreement with Qatar on measures the isolated Gulf nation can take to curb the funding of militancy, and attempted to mediate the crisis.
The list presented to Qatar by the Arab countries demanded that it cut ties with Iran, hand over extremists and shut down Al Jazeera. It also demanded compensation and called for an end to Turkey’s military presence in Qatar, among other things.