The National Unity Assembly (NUA), along with a coalition of 10 other political societies in Bahrain, agreed on a set of rules, which they said were key to participating in the second round of the National Dialogue.

In a closed door meeting at the NUA's headquarters, members from different societies agreed on a set of "11-point" the rules for the National Dialogue to be successful, said a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

These included urging all participants to "clearly have a united stance in condemning violence from all sides and stop increasing attacks on policemen carrying out their duties".

In addition, the participants stressed that it is imperative for government representatives to participate actively in the talks. They also called for clear agreement on the number of representatives from each political society taking part in the talks, which should reach consensus from all sides.

The members further urged the Justice Minister to specify the agenda of political issues, which could not be resolved in the 2011 Dialogue and will now be brought forward for discussion.

"All parties should collectively engage in talks without pulling out in the middle until there is peace and stability," states one of the points.

In addition, they called upon the government to set a time frame for implementation of the Dialogue recommendations.

"We would like to emphasise that rule of law is supreme and those who have committed crimes against the country should face punishments.

"There should be no policy of royal pardon which will encourage more violence," the societies said.

The members also called for the National Consensus Dialogue to be a local affair stressing "no foreign intervention" of any kind should influence the dialogue process in any way or promote any foreign agenda.

The NUA and the political societies include the National Action Charter Society (Al Meethaq), National Justice Movement (Al Adala), Al Asala Islamic Society, Al Menbar Islamic Society, Al Saff Islamic Society, Al Shurra Islamic Society, National Dialogue Society, Al Wast Al Arabi Islamic Democratic Society and the Constitutional Gathering. – TradeArabia News Service