The decision by six Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar on charges of supporting terrorism has pushed West Asia to the abyss. Qatar's isolation is seen as an indicator that the worse is yet to come since the already volatile region will see more polarisation and diplomatic clashes.
However, Qatar did not make the headlines for the first time in terms of controversy. Here we list three major episodes concerning Qatar that have brought Doha under the glare of the global community:
Widening the friction among opposition to Bashar al-Assad: In 2011, Qatar had emerged as one of the key external supporter to the opposition of Assad. The rich country had reportedly spent over $3 billion to boost the fractious anti-Assad groups and it was said that the Qataris frustrated the US in its effort to reach a consensus among the opposition forces. Qatar's supporting multiple Islamist factions and refusal to provide the aid through the Syrian Military Council saw the rift widening among the opposition forces, hurting the ploy to corner Assad.
Financing terror groups: Qatar has been accused often of backing terrorist groups or turning a blind eye to financiers who even work in the country's government. Salim Hassan Khalifa Rashid al-Kuwari of Qatar's interior ministry was accused of transferring thousands of dollars to al-Qaeda through terror network.He was also a part of the USA's list of people accused of officially backing terrorism in 2011. And he was not the only man to do so.
Moreover, documents found by the American forces related to slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden revealed the outfit's links with Qatar. It was also learnt that Laden had written a long letter to his young wife Khayria Saber asking her whether she wanted to go to Qatar. Doha was also accused of harbouring a number of militants belonging to al-Qaeda, Arab Afghan and Taliban.
World Cup 2022: Qatar also faced flak over its preparing itself for the Fifa World Cup of 2022. The country, with almost no football tradition and infrastructure, along with bribery allegations to bag the bid and poor human rights record made it perhaps the most controversial host nation of the quadrennial mega tournament.
While the allegations of the Qataris bribing top Fifa officials [even one official's 10-year-old daughter was allegedly bribed] saw either officials stepping down or getting sacked, there were also reports that over 1,000 workers from India and Nepal died after they were forced to work under inhuman conditions to get the country ready for the 2022 World Cup.
Nepal was particularly affected by the extreme measures. In May 2015, the Nepalese government had lashed out at Qatar as well as the Fifa after the West Asian country refused to allow the South Asian country's workers to attend the funeral of their loved ones who were killed in the devastating earthquake that year.
