Moment of truth in Manama

The National Dialogue begin in earnest here Tuesday evening as Bahrain attempts to come to grips with months of political and anti-government violence which brought the island kingdom to a virtual state of paralysis. Only in the past few weeks, with the lifting of curfews in parts of the city and the end of emergency rule, has the kingdom begun to return to normalcy. "It's a new beginning for Bahrain," Salah Al Jowder of the Arabic daily newspaper Al Ayam told Gulf News. "It's an opportunity for moving forward and learning lessons of these past months." He said the National Dialogue was an excellent means for all parties and interested groups to come together and discuss recommendations for the future of the kingdom. Article continues below "Everything is on the table and all of the parties taking part need to realise that," he said. "But when they come to the table, they need to do so in the spirit of dialogue. That means not coming with a set agenda or specific goals, but rather listening to all ideas." "The government of Bahrain has been very wise in making sure all societies and views are equally represented during the process," he said. Each invited group will have five representatives at the seminars to be held on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings. Opposition parties, however, say that they have just 35 of the 300 delegates attending. Open exchange "This isn't about numbers," Al Jowder said. "It's about the open exchange of ideas and dialogue. Numbers are not the issue. The government of Bahrain, which represents every Bahraini, is sitting as one group with five representatives. If numbers were important, then the government should have more representatives," he said. "It's about dialogue, not numbers." And Al Jowder said that all topics need to be discussed with a report going to the king, and then forwarded to parliament to act upon. "The issue of amnesty for detainees will also have to be addressed," Al Jowder told Gulf News. "But those who committed criminal acts need to remain in jail. Where there is evidence of wrongdoing and criminal acts then, khalas, the issue is finished. We cannot set criminals free. These are people who committed crimes against the state and against every Bahraini." Munira Fakhro, a member of the board of the National Democratic Action Society, a secular opposition group, said that the group had decided to participate in the National Dialogue even though its leader remains jailed. "We are not holding out much hope for the process, simply because the opposition together only has a little more then 10 per cent of the delegates," Fakhro said. "We do not believe that the political talks will make much progress because of the way the National Dialogue is constituted," she said. However, it decided to participate because, as a secular-based group, it feels other results can be achieved. "We are participating because we feel that in the areas of business and the social issues, we can make a difference and our voice can be heard," she said. Fakhro also welcomed last week's decision by the king to appoint an independent human rights group to report on the events surrounding acts of violence at Pearl Roundabout and across Bahrain that resulted in hundreds of injuries and at least 30 deaths. Impartial leaders "This report is important because it is being led by impartial leaders from abroad and it will name names," she said. "It is important that everybody knows what happened in Bahrain." Al Jowder also agrees with the appointment of the human rights group. "Bahrain has nothing to hide," he says. "This is a fully independent body that will investigate and will report what happened. It is important to understand what happened and it's necessary to turn the corner on what happened in February and March." Al Jowder said that the report would also show to the world the forces that were at play during the turbulent times, and it would identify sections within the government of Bahrain, if any, that need to be held accountable for the actions. "It's a totally independent body with prominent people from the outside world," he said. "These people will not lend their support to something that is a whitewash. It will answer all of the questions for the international community. It will name names and then we'll all know," Al Jowder said.