MANAMA: Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa called for talks on reform involving all parties in the Gulf Arab state “without preconditions” from July 1, the state news agency said Tuesday. The offer comes as the government prepares Wednesday to lift a state of emergency imposed in March to break up pro-democracy protests inspired by uprisings that brought down veteran rulers in Egypt and Tunisia. The government is also hoping to get back its Formula One race. The prestigious March event in the racing calendar was cancelled because of the unrest but a meeting of the sports governing body on Friday could reinstate it for later this year. “The king called on everyone to take part...to push forward reform for development in all areas and to firmly anchor the bases of the reform process,” the Bahrain News Agency said. It quoted the king as saying in a speech to Bahraini journalists that the talks would be “comprehensive, serious and without preconditions”. Bahrain called in Gulf Arab forces in March. Bahrain says Iran was behind the protest movement. Twenty-one opposition figures -seven of whom are abroad - are on military trial on charges of seeking to overthrow the system. The king praised the National Unity Rally, a government-backed group that emerged during the unrest as a counterweight to opposition groups. The rally has said Wefaq would have to change its leadership before political reconcilation would be possible and religious groups have campaigned for Wefaq to be ostracized and harsh sentences in the ongoing military trials. Former Wefaq MP Jasim Husain welcomed the announcement. “I'm quite upbeat and pleased that the king made the offer on the eve of a return to normal conditions,” he said. “Given that the future of the country is at stake, I think we can overcome the problems.” But an opposition activist who declined to be named said the speech lacked substance. The king did not specify parameters, talking in general terms of the need to improve government and parliament. “Reform is the project that we have not and will not flinch from,” he said. “Who does not want more efficient government performance? Who does not want more effective legislative representation? Or political associations and civil society groups that work in the framework of national unity and the rule of law?”
