Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have accused Iraq that ransom of US$500m was paid by Qatar to Shia Muslim Armed groups. The purpose of this ransom, according to them, is to secure the release of 26 kidnapped Qatari hunters.
Iraq called this fallacious accusation on the sovereignty of Iraq. In this regard, on Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi said, “Yes we received money and we got hold of the funds and rights now we still have it deposited in the Iraqi Central bank.” He was addressing the Popular Mobilization Forces in an Umbrella group of Shia-Muslim armed forces.
In April, Iraqi government took US$500m in ransom payments brought into the country by Qatari delegation. Iraqi government didn’t know the purpose of intended money given to Iraq by Qatari officials. Make sure these Qatari hunters were abducted in December 16, 2015. The reason behind this abduction is ambiguous.
Per Al-Jazair Qatari foreign Minister was also surprised by Iraqi Prime Minister’s statement,
“In the last 15 months while (the Qatari hunters) were kidnapped, the Qatari authorities were always in touch with the Iraqi government and there were no positive developments in the last few weeks right before they were released.”
Qatari Sheikh Tamin bin Hammad Al-Thani added, “The Qatari government was the coordinating every single detail with its Iraqi counterpart. We received numerous requests from the Iraqi government for funds during their mission to secure the release of the hostages”. He further added his interview to Al-Jazeera, “let me make it clear. The ransom money was brought into Iraq government and in open. If the Iraqi government doesn’t need these funds, the money will be returned to Qatar”.
Due to the dispute of this ransom money among both parties, the Iraqi government held this money. But KSA and UAE took advantage of this disagreement of intended money they connected it that Qatar was directly supporting to Al-Qaeda and Iran, an Iraqi news outlet reported.
In addition to that King of Saudi Arabia Salman favoured America President Donald Trump by calling Iran as “extremists and terrorist’s state”.
Prime minister gave his remarks to Iraqi TV, “It was never crashed out. I heard in various media outlets that the money was dispersed to one group or another but let me make it clear. This money is still kept in our central bank”.
Saudi and its allies cut their ties with Qatar then they used another accusation as their weapon to attack Iraq. Qatar also denied all allegations by its fellow GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) nations.
The conflict between KSA and its allies to Qatar is the biggest political, economical and social crisis in years. The sole purpose was to isolate this tiny gulf state from the giants because Qatar rapidly expands its economic anchor in the world.
Correspondent: Syeda Faiza Bukhari
