KUWAIT CITY: Emirate's municipal council has rejected the request to build a mosque in Kuwait for Bohra Shia Muslims, on the basis that none of estimated 25,000 Bohras in the Gulf state is a Kuwaiti national.

Kuwait's minister of Islamic affairs Abdullah Al Maatuq is under fire for pushing forward the mosque project, even though it has already been rejected by the emirate's municipal council.

Al Maatuq said he made the request on behalf of the Kuwaiti cabinet, which recently approved a decision to grant Bohras government land for the project.

Kuwait Human Rights Association said the council's rejection violated the constitution that stipulates religious freedom, and called on Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah to revoke the irresponsible decision.

It noted that Bohras have mosques in the neighboring states of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as well as places of worship in the United States and Britain.

About one-third of Kuwait’s native population of 1 million is Shia. It also has about 2.2 million foreign residents, most of them Asians and Arabs.