KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaiti ruler Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah urged his people – shias and sunnis - to set aside any sectarian divisions for their own security.

In an address to parliament earlier this week, Al Sabah said: “Kuwait does not belong to one group only or to one sect only. It is for everybody.”

“We all know how huge the responsibility of protecting (Kuwait) is.” He urged citizens to shun “any behaviour that results in division.”

Kuwait provides its Shia citizens with an unwritten but enduring “social contract” that guarantees lucrative perks such as free education, health care and affordable housing, all subsidized by vast oil wealth. It also ensures a relatively high degree of social harmony and religious tolerance.

But Shia leaders, including Hassan Jawhar, one of only four Shia lawmakers in Kuwait’s 50-seat parliament, and Shia cleric Ahmed Hussein, say Shias remain victims of systematic, yet subtle, discrimination.

The current 16-member Cabinet has a single Shia, a woman.