THIS is with reference to the news report “Bahrain revokes citizenship of 69 people for ‘sympathising’ with Iran” and another one with a subhead ‘UAE lambasts neighbours’ (April 28). Out of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seems to be unhappy with Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for being supposedly sympathetic to Iran.

On its part, Bahrain is additionally annoyed with 69 of its own citizens of Bahrain-origin for supporting Iran at the hands of which the UAE seems to have suffered most during the present joint assault by the United States against Iran and the latter’s retaliatory attacks.

With a tragic history of what the US and Israel have done to Palestinians and other Muslim-majority states, picking them as close associates in open defiance of the whole region’s interests and then criticising other states for not following the example, amounts to taking the joke a bit too far.

S.R.H. Hashmi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026