29/03/2022
29628 times read
29/03/2022
29628 times read
WE reiterate our utmost appreciation and pleasure for what His Highness the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Lieutenant General (Rtd.) Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nawaf had said earlier this month to the undersecretaries and security leaders of the Ministry of Interior.
Without mincing words, he said, “Deal with the public – both citizens and expatriates – with respect without any form of injustice or abuse, because injustice does not exist in my dictionary.” These are words of justice, which have been absent for a while in a ministry where an individual or an officer may be susceptible to abuse. However, in this case, many people have been wronged.
Your Highness the First Deputy Prime Minister, all the security organs of this ministry are very sensitive. Only those with competence and experience should work in them, but most important of all, those who fear Almighty Allah in themselves and their country.
These individuals are entrusted with people’s lives, money and honor. We do not exaggerate when we say that many have been harmed in the past years by security restrictions that were imposed unjustly, including Bedoun residents or expatriates who were deported without being given the right to defend themselves legally.
This so-called security restriction means that a person is subjected to surveillance just because someone has reported something about him but without providing any documents and evidence. When nothing of suspicion is found against him, he is blackmailed and forced to confess to a crime he did not commit. In other words, he must falsely confess against himself, or carry out what is asked of him. This is contrary to the laws and conscience.
There is no doubt that some of the ministers who passed through the Ministry of Interior fostered corruption in it and its agencies. That is because they are corrupt and they think that all people are like them.
We hope that you will follow the tradition of your father, His Highness the Amir of this country. When this just man took over this ministry, he established fairness and justice in it, and gave people the status they deserved.
We hope you will open all the files that contain injustice, especially those related to the reports published in media about torture chambers and cold rooms in the State Security Department, which is something that should not happen in any civilized country in the world.
In some of the ministry’s agencies, there is self-seeking and unjustified abuse. Our police stations have become popular, tribal, and sectarian, because some of its officers do not fear Almighty Allah in their conscience, their people and their nation. In the apparatus headed by your brother Lieutenant General Sheikh Salem Al-Nawaf, there are individuals who oppress people through the security restrictions that have no basis in the law.
This institution in particular must be based on fairness and justice. It is far from reconciling, and so it must be reformed, and may be handed over to others; lest it be said that your highness covers your brother’s misdeeds.
When we speak to Your Excellency with such frankness, it is because we are well aware that you are never satisfied with the injustice “that is not in your dictionary”, as you said, especially since you have pledged reform, and do not fear the blames of the blamer. For this reason, all of Kuwait is waiting for the translation of your statement to the security leaders, “I am with you, but do not get on my wrong side, which is injustice and abuse of people and power.”
The people of Kuwait are with you, so is His Highness your father, who is the father of all.
At this point, I remember the words of the Abbasid-era Arab poet Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi: “There is no authority over the divine authority. Every oppressor will get his own match or worse.”
May Almighty Allah protect you from injustice and those who treat people unjustly.
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times