Qatar crisis: Isolation of Qatar by Gulf powers

Dear Readers,

In the recent days the tension in the gulf region is on the rise after the  decision of Saudi Arabia to cut all it’s ties with Qatar. This has been a hot topic in news and current affairs and that is why it is important for you to know about the crisis as questions from this can be expected in upcoming  NICL AO Mains and RBI Officer Grade-B exams. Qatar has been cut-off by Saudi Arabia which is later joined by other powerful countries of Gulf. To understand more about the crisis we first need to understand the geographical location of Qatar.

Qatar is a peninsula in the east of Arabia, bordering the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia, in a strategic location near major petroleum deposits. The foremost reason for the isolation of Qatar as stated by the other gulf nations is it’s alleged support to regional radical Islamist groups like Muslim Brotherhood. Groups like these are notorious for propagating terrorism in many countries. Secondly, the pleasant relation of Qatar with Shia-majority Iran irks the Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia way too much. But the incident that led to the immediate sparks was when Qatar based news agency website quoted the Emir as criticising the US on grounds of hostility towards Iran. This ignited the already deep-rooted rage against Qatar in the gulf countries. Bahrain was the first country to start the suit which is also followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Yemen, Libya’s eastern-based government and the Maldives. These countries have asked Qatari residents & visitors to leave their territory in two weeks time. Also, they have imposed a travel ban on their citizens to Qatar. 

This ban would have some serious impacts on flourishing industries of Qatar. If we take construction into concern then it was in full swing before the ban due to the FIFA football world cup which is scheduled in 2022. Now the migrant workers who form 90% of Qatar’s population are in some serious dilemma. They are very uncertain about their future. The other industry is the aviation industry. It would face some huge losses because of the travel ban. As the flights would have to take a longer route than usual it would result in flight delays, more fuel consumption, customer dissent. The third industry that would be affected adversely would be food industry. 

Now the question arises that what could happen in coming days? This would be very crucial for the whole world. So, the eyes of the world media would be on Qatar for it’s stance.

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