Bahrain Update

http://www.aimislam.com/news/analysis/1842-bahrain-oppression-murder-and-myths-of-reform.html

The Majority is the Enemy

Dr. Salah Al-Bandar exposed the deep-running sectarian, anti-Shia penchant of the Al-Khalifa monarchy in his widely distributed report published in 2006. The 'Bandargate' report as it came to be known highlighted a clandestine, well-orchestrated conspiracy by the government to further disenfranchise the country's majority Shia population from influential governmental positions. Wreaking from decades of political and socioeconomic marginalisation, it would seem that the already hideous conditions affecting Bahraini Shias had to be dealt with a final blow.

Within the report, mention is made of promoting anti-Shia campaigns in the media arena, which is predominantly controlled and heavily monitored by the monarchy. The government's undeviating devotion to a policy of sectarian discrimination does not stop at discriminatory agendas in the press. In line with this outlook, the 2009 report by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights revealed staggering statistics that show systemic discrimination against Shia citizens in various governmental institutions.

Even more alarmingly, the Al-Khalifa regime has strategically pursued a policy of marginalising Shias from the military and domestic security apparatuses. In its report issued in 2005, the International Crisis Group highlighted the endemic discriminatory practises of the government in this regard further noting that the security forces responsible for the clampdown on the 1995 protests were principally recruited from "the Balochi area of Pakistan, with officers from Jordan and other Arab countries". The Bahrain Center for Human Rights notes that this policy has in effect created an equation in which "foreign mercenaries", outwardly draped in the Red and White flag, exercise control of the security needs of the monarchy.

http://www.juancole.com/2011/02/50000-protest-in-bahrain-before-another-bloody-crackdown.html

In Bahrain, Friday began with funerals for three protesters killed by security police during earlier demonstrations. The funerals turned into protest rallies. Some 50,000 Bahrainis took part, about 10% of the population.

Shiite Friday prayers sermons were full of calls for ‘ a real constitutional monarchy’ or even for the overthrow of the Sunni Al Khalifa monarchy. 

Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qasim said in his Friday Prayers sermon at the Diraz Mosque that Thursday’s massacre at the Pearl Roundabout was “a premeditated massacre intended to kill and shed blood, not simply to disperse the crowd.” He wondered, “Why this despotic killing?” The congregation began chanting “Bahrain, Free, Free!” and “Sunnis and Shiites are Brethren– We will not sell out our Country!” Sheikh Isa replied, “We will not accept this humiliation!” again and again. He said that the Bahrain government was now the chief threat to the security of Bahrain citizens. He added that the world needed to shoulder the responsibility of rescuing the Bahraini people. He called on Bahrainis to cling steadfastly to national unity, saying, “Do not kill yourselves with sectarianism.”

In contrast, at the Grand Mosque, Sunni Bahrainis and Sunni Pakistanis and Indian Muslims showed support for the embattled king. Although Shiites are 70 percent of the citizen population, over half of Bahrain’s 1.2 million residents are expatriate guest workers, and most of them are Sunni Muslim.