This is a very confused rant which I put down in writing, I just didn’t know how to gather all facts and write them. So just read it.
Initially I had been very much appalled by the news of the crackdown on the Bahraini Demonstrators; I thought, here was another regime that was trying to put down dissent. I was actively posting stories about how bad it was on my face book profile until I decided to take a step back and look at the whole geo political situation. Talked to some of my father’s friends who were working in intelligence in Bahrain and came to the conclusion that this had to happen, otherwise there would be a bigger issue of stability and security in the region.
No one can deny that Iran has some sort of hand in this whole mess up. I was even told and later in the news the same thing came up that there were individuals who were trained by Hezbollah, this is an alarming fact and cannot be taken lightly. Having Bahrain fall in the hands of the Shia run Iranian regime would cause more than just concern. Coming back to Bahrain, there were solid progress being made in the last couple of years about addressing the concerns of the citizens who felt that they have been left out of the economic progress of the country, The crown prince is very forward looking and would have worked to ensure more rights and reform, but the protest put an end to any future hope of such actions. Further killing of policemen and then targeted attacks on South Asians just because some of their countrymen work for the police or are part of the Security establishment further proved that the people behind these were not looking for resolution to their concerns about jobs and housing but were trying to further destabilize the region so there could be a need for Iran to get involved.
It seems that the demonstrators initially might have had some legit concerns but after a few days, it was just a mob of people who wanted to cause clear harm to Bahrain’s reputation, security and stability. Whatever the outcome will be in the coming days and any outcry that will result due to the government’s actions will be the doing of the demonstrators. The death sentences handed out today are a clear indication that the government takes very seriously when law and order is challenged and I don’t blame them.
I remember from my time in Bahrain (back in the 90s) that there was another set of demonstrations and riots and they were put down by the government, I had realized how biased the demonstrators were, when we as high school kids were cautioned and scared of going into certain areas as Pakistanis were constantly attacked for being Pakistani (majority of the police is Pakistani). It didn’t come as a surprise what happened this time also.
Whatever the case now, Bahrain is now in a very delicate time period. The people will get some benefit out of this but maybe the steps taken towards reform might be rolled back and will take another decade to be at the point where they were before all this happened. It is now to just wait and see what happens, after all the terrorist elements are cleared up, I am sure the government will take positive steps towards reform but until then don’t expect the government to give in to demands posed by the Iranian establishment through their proxies in Bahrain.