Developments in Bahrain: Fighting Ensues

[Nishan]

the same british who gave this persian land to an arab guy who was from a religious minority?
interesting indeed what you say

you dont get it yet . . try again

 

[Nishan]

is this peaceful? Are these protesters or terrorists?

When people are kidnapped from their homes . . This is called terrorism . . My brother . . I have heard of some people of Bahrain much worse than this . . Bahraini Shiites were entering the house of Sunni and under the gun they force him to divorce his wife . . then one of them marry her as (Mut'a) anf after that they leave

 

[DV RULES]

TERROR PLOT FOILED

Monday, March 21, 2011

MANAMA: Bahrain said last night it foiled a major terror plot aimed to jeopardise national security of GCC states.

"An external plot has been fomented for 20 to 30 years for the ground to be ripe for subversive designs," His Majesty King Hamad said.

"If this subversive plot succeeded in one GCC country it might then spill over," he said as he met commanding officers of the Peninsula Shield joint forces.

He was welcomed by BDF Commander-in-Chief Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, National Guard chief Major-General Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa, Peninsula Shield joint forces Commander Major-General Mutlaq bin Salem Al Azima'a and senior officers.

His Majesty paid tribute to GCC leaders for their keenness to deter dangers jeopardising Bahrain, reflecting strong fraternal relations, common destiny and firm commitment to the joint defence agreements.


Gulf Daily News » Local News » TERROR PLOT FOILED

Checkpoints are cleared


Monday, March 21, 2011


BAHRAINIS in residential areas across the country yesterday started removing checkpoints set up last week to prevent strangers from entering their neighbourhoods.

Youths with sticks and metal rods have been replaced with police patrols at the checkpoints starting Saturday night.

However, there are still a few areas where youths are reportedly stationed at entrances to neighbourhoods.

Municipal council chairmen say they are hopeful that life in Bahrain will return to normal within a week.

"It is extremism through rumours that has created worry and panic from one sect to the other, which has led to the unnecessary flare of tempers," said Central Municipal Council chairman Al Asala's Abdulrazzak Al Hattab.

"Sectarianism never existed in Bahrain and it will never exist and after a week of it people have realised that both sects are not enemies of each other, it is just differences in politics," he said.

"There were some attacks here and there and a few more are expected but from what I see they look to be more personal rather than on a wide scale."

Mr Al Hattab said that now with life returning normal, locals were ordered to remove their checkpoints and allow police to handle the security responsibility.

"Some answered immediately and there are a few others who have promised to do so within the upcoming two to three days," he said.

"By the end of the week, we will have no checkpoints in the Central Governorate.

"Love is our best weapon, not knives or guns, and we can easily bridge the gap within days especially in our governorate, because Sunni and Shi'ite neighbourhoods tend to interlope together not just in geography but heart."

He said that the Electricity and Water Authority would be called whenever the situation cools to fix damaged lampposts.

Muharraq Municipal Council chairman Al Asala's Abdulnasser Al Mahmeed said that some local checkpoints were removed, but others remained due to fears of mass attacks on security and military personnel living in certain neighbourhoods.

"Local checkpoints will be removed according to assessment of whether an individual area was still in danger or not and we have so far removed one near Bahrain International Airport and Busaiteen," he said.

"We have removed some after residents knew they were safe, but there are other areas that are subject to attack especially where military and security personnel or their families live.

"There are cases in which their doors have been chalked and they were attacked so residents are still hesitant to hand over the protection responsibility to the police."

"Hopefully, none of the check points will be left by the end of the week, as sectarian tensions end."

Saudi decision was good as not individual but security agreement of Arab league. Iran only want to take advantages from this situation. Saudi interference now blocked Iraq-Kuwait style problem & further US invasion in Iraq similar problems.

Iran irresponsible country as it is also part of Jewish history plan but no need to let any body more messes of innocent peoples.
Now Iran find a way out to spread his legs but still doubtful that this action is intentionally or not. They are used to make messes or get messes so why because of one country whole Arab should come into trouble?

 

[ahmed_naj]

talented actors, they have bright future in hollywood:

 

[muse]

Another present courtesy of the Pakistan Fauj -- jobs for ex-servicemen?

Harrowing tale of Pakistani policemen lynched in Bahrain
By Salman Siddiqui
Published: March 21, 2011


Kashif was lynched and murdered by an angry mob when his police unit was ordered to move in against protestors.

KARACHI:

Kashif Mehmood joined the Bahraini police force soon after he graduated from the Pakistani school in Bahrain.

He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps who joined the Bahraini police after migrating from Gujranwala’s Mandi Bahauddin area, some 30 years ago.

No one from Kashif’s family of four siblings and parents could imagine that one day the 20-year-old’s life would be cut short as brutally as it was last Wednesday.

Kashif was lynched and murdered by an angry mob when a police unit, which Kashif was a part of, was ordered to move in against protesters gathered at Pearl Square in Manama.

The nightmare for Kashif’s family, however, did not end at his death. Gruesome images and videos of his death have appeared all over the internet. Many have also posted hateful and racist slogans under them, against the Pakistani community in Bahrain.

“I haven’t slept in days,” says Ali, Kashif’s 18-year-old brother, while speaking
over the phone as he emailed video links of his brother’s murder.

He sounded horrified when he said that houses of Pakistanis, especially those employed with the security forces, were being marked by protesters, to be attacked later.

Kashif, and another Bahraini policeman of Pakistani origin, Farooq Baloch, were on duty together on Wednesday, when an operation against the protesters was launched. Amid the chaos, the two young policemen, armed just with sticks, broke away from their unit and sought help from an approaching ambulance. Little did they know that the rescue van was actually loaded with protestors.

The ambulance ran them over, killing Baloch who had married three months ago and the sole breadwinner for his family.

Kashif, who barely survived the first onslaught, was kidnapped and taken to an empty ground.

Videos posted online show that groups of young men then took turns in kicking and clobbering with sticks Kashif’s lifeless body.

Even though it was apparent that he was dead, the protesters proceeded to mutilate his body, with groups of young men in their SUVs repeatedly running over the corpse.

The incident bore an eerie resemblance to the Sialkot lynching incident, where the onlookers cheered on as the victim was tortured.

Ali says his father sent his mother back to Gujranwala a few days ago. They have yet to tell her that her son died in such a horrific manner.

Both Kashif and Farooq were buried in Bahrain.

Another victim of the protestors’ wrath was the 54-year-old Saifullah Mohammad Ibrahim, who remains in critical condition after being severely injured in the attacks.

He worked in the police department and moved from Punjab decades ago, to settle in Bahrain.

“When [the protestors] took my uncle to the Lulu roundabout, they not only tortured him, but also heckled him for being a Pakistani,” said Maheen, a relative of Saifullah.

While humiliating him, the protesters chanted “Down down Pakistan, go back to your country,” Maheen added.


At least four Bahrainis of Pakistani origin have been reportedly killed and several dozens injured in the on-going crisis.

The security situation in the country remains volatile even though the state claimed that the protest was successfully being put down by Arab League-backed troops.

The main worry, however, for the Pakistani expatriates, is that the friction that this crisis has created in the Bahraini society will take years to repair.

When asked whether his family was considering leaving Bahrain for good, Ali said that although they were in shock, no one is thinking about leaving Bahrain or going back to Pakistan.F
We were born and brought up in Bahrain, how could we just leave our home like that, he said.

“I’m going nowhere. I will join the police force like Kashif,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2011.

 

[EastWest]

Y are the Pakistanis being attacked in Bahrain??There are more Indians(300,000) in Bahrain..even many non-muslims...no incidents being reported on attacks on them.

Note: One indian killed in cross-fire btwn gov and protesters...

 

[Hussein]

Bahrain police is using the same methods than the anti crise police in Iran:
look on this video:

 

[Nishan]

talented actors, they have bright future in hollywood:

This is silly tricks carried out by Shiites in Bahrain . . These tricks have been exposed because those actress are very bad . . only idiots believe this play

 

[Hussein]

UN Human Rights Chief Slams Bahrain's 'Military Takeover of Hospitals' | Middle East | English

U.N. Human Rights chief Navi Pillay has criticized what she called a "military takeover of hospitals" in Bahrain, calling the action "shocking and illegal."

Pillay said Thursday the U.N. had received reports of arbitrary arrests, killings and beatings of protesters and medical personnel.

Sunni rulers are seeking to quell month-long protests by the kingdom's Shi'ite majority and have declared a state of emergency to try to end the uprising.

Pillay urged the government to stop using force against unarmed protesters and allow the injured to get medical treatment. She called on both sides to engage in "immediate" dialogue for meaningful reforms and an end to the violence.

 

[Hussein]

Crackdown in Bahrain: Notes from the field - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

MANAMA — Against all advice, I flew to Bahrain to witness first-hand the confrontation between the royal authorities and the thousands of protesters in the streets.

It took a while to get a taxi, because roadblocks have discouraged people from driving. We drove through the eerily empty streets and easily passed through two makeshift checkpoints manned by teenaged shebab.

My young driver was full of enthusiasm about the protest, explaining that the demonstrations were peaceful and not driven by Sunni-Shia sectarianism, which was just a pretext for the regime to justify its control.

As we neared the Pearl roundabout – the epicentre of the protest – I asked him if it would be safe for me to go there.

He assured me that it would be perfectly safe and that I would find whole families – including women and children – peacefully camped out there.

They were there because the ruling Al Khalifa family so far had failed to persuade them that they are sincere about political reform.

While the crown prince had offered to meet the opposition (the Shia Wifaq party and other groups) had refused, insisting that the rulers first make a good will gesture such as accepting a constitutional reform committee of their choosing.

Instead the king took the highly provocative step of calling in outside military forces (the mostly Saudi "Peninsula Shield" of the Gulf Cooperation Council). So the protests continued.

My driver seemed optimistic that "people power" would bring democracy to Bahrain as it had in Tunisia and Egypt.

How wrong he was.

Suppression

The next morning, just after 6 am, I looked out of my hotel window across largely vacant land in the direction of the Pearl roundabout.

The crackdown was beginning. I could see a steady line of armoured personnel carriers inching down a road toward the roundabout.

I counted around thirty of them. Four helicopters hovered over the area with a fifth surveying at a higher altitude. Then I could see plumes of white and black smoke rising from behind and between the buildings near the roundabout, apparently from the burning tents of the protesters.

An hour later I saw another huge column of black smoke billowing up. What I couldn't see were the Bahraini and Saudi forces attacking the protesters (killing two and injuring many more) and burning their tents.

Three other protesters were killed in the serious clashes in the Sitra island area and elsewhere. And the Salmaniyya hospital complex was being surrounded by security troops, preventing ambulances from entering or leaving.

A Bahraini friend could not contain his emotion in describing to me how members of his extended family in villages outside Manama had their houses broken into by thugs affiliated with the internal security organisations.

He said he felt shame and humiliation to see the police break up a peaceful demonstration on the Bahrain University campus. The offices of the Waad party, a centrist, non-sectarian organisation were vandalised and set on fire.

Justifying brutality

Clearly the authorities have decided that force, not negotiation, will be their preferred strategy.

Here is how they justify it: Bahrain will not follow the path of Tunisia and Egypt. The opposition has missed an historic opportunity for peaceful reform by refusing the crown prince''s offer to negotiate. Instead, it has illegally occupied public space, intimidated ordinary citizens, and done grievous harm to the Bahraini economy. The intervention of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) forces on the invitation of the government is perfectly legal under a collective security treaty. The loss of life is regrettable, but the crackdown was necessary to prevent ongoing chaos which Iran would exploit. With the "saboteurs" crushed, things will now return to normal.

The opposition, however, has good reason to reject this case. The Al Khalifa have turned aside public demands for more participatory and accountable government since the 1950s.

Constitutional reforms promised in the 1970s have not been kept. The present ruler also promised reforms when he came to power in 2002 but nothing came of them.

Instead members of the royal family, controlling all key governmental positions, have used that power for self-aggrandisement (in real estate, for example) and have imported and naturalised thousands of Sunni residents to reduce the Shia demographic preponderance.

The royal family and its clients have too much at stake to risk opening up political space to the public.

Joining the "club"

As for the GCC military involvement, the opposition contends that such interventions are permissible only in the case of outside invasion, not domestic disputes.

The crackdown marks the victory of the hard-liners within the royal establishment, led by the chief of the royal court Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, the national security chief Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Khalifa and the prime minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

The chief soft-liner is the crown prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. In family politics the crown prince''s moderate stance is a lonely one (King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, is said to be in the middle).

Little wonder that a key demand of the opposition is that the prime minister (who also happens to be the king''s uncle) step down from the post he has held since 1971 as a precondition for formal negotiations.

This idea, as the crackdown shows, is a non-starter: the king''s uncle evidently has too much seniority.

Then there is the Saudi factor: the Saudi rulers led by hard-line prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz, the second deputy prime minister and interior minister, have insisted that the protests be crushed, because the symbolic effects of a weakening – let alone demise – of the Al Khalifa dynasty would strike at Saudi Arabia's vital national interest, unleashing intensified Shia protest in the kingdom''s oil-rich eastern province.

But it is not just Saudi Arabia: the whole "club" of GCC monarchs apparently fears for the future of one of its own.

In addition, it is not difficult to believe that the United States gave a green or at least amber light for the crackdown.

Secretary of defence Robert Gates met with the Bahraini rulers just a day before the Saudi and UAE forces crossed the causeway.

True, Gates urged the Al Khalifa to take more than "baby steps" toward reform, but if realism is the guiding force in international affairs, the main purpose of the meeting could well have been to coordinate GCC military assistance to the beleaguered monarchy in order to prevent Iran from gaining influence in Bahrain.

But will the crackdown restore stability, legitimacy and prosperity as the government hopes?

Backing the Khalifas

The day after, the situation is quiet but tense.

A partial curfew is in force. Shops remain closed, people were staying indoors. Tanks and armoured personnel carriers are stationed at key intersections.

At one checkpoint manned by masked soldiers, I saw three young men pushed up against a wall with their hands tied behind them. Today, six leading opposition figures were arrested.

The Shia in particular feel humiliated. While the authorities may have crushed the public demonstrations, the situation will not go back to normal.

That would require a political solution. However, it will be more difficult now for them to have a dialogue with the organised opposition, which is in no mood to talk to a regime with blood on its hands.

Eight Bahraini civil society organisations have issued an appeal to the international community to pressure the Bahraini authorities. So the prospect is for an indefinite period of direct royal rule under the king''s limited state of emergency, which of course could be extended indefinitely as it has in the past.

Under these conditions, one cannot rule out the possibility that radicalised elements of the opposition will turn to violence – acts of sabotage, shootings, bombings, etc.

The authorities will also be facing the daunting task of restoring the economy and business activity. Chronic political tension will not inspire investment and banking.

The Al Khalifa monarchy will be even more dependent on the financial assistance which Saudi Arabia and the GCC have offered.

Iran may well become more involved, perhaps with clandestine aid to resistance groups. So far, Iran's objections to the "foreign occupation" have been only rhetorical, but that might change if Bahrain is facing an indefinite period of absolute rule without a political solution.

In the past, the Al Khalifa have turned aside determined efforts from Bahrain''s civil society for constitutional reform and democratisation.

Can they do it again? The Arab world, as we have learned in the last three months, is now much more politically mobilised and the habit of deference to authoritarian rule has been broken.

Michael C. Hudson is the Seif Ghobash Professor of Government and International Relations at Georgetown University. He is currently serving as the Director of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore. He has written, edited and contributed to numerous books including Middle East Dilemma: The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration (Columbia University Press), Arab Politics: The Search for Legitimacy (Yale University Press) and The Precarious Republic: Political Modernization in Lebanon (Random House).

 

[Hussein]

Bahrain doctors, casualties caught up in crackdown | Reuters

Some doctors at Bahrain's busiest hospital say they are too scared to return to work for fear of being arrested or harassed after treating wounded protesters during weeks of unrest in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch's Middle East branch accused Bahraini authorities of "unabashedly terrorizing anyone including doctors who dared to support pro-democracy protesters during the past several weeks."

here the truth

Bahraini state television has accused staff at the hospital of discriminating against Sunni patients and exaggerating the number of casualties. It also said activists had occupied the complex, turning it into a tool of the revolt.

here the propaganda

 

[flameboard]

This is silly tricks carried out by Shiites in Bahrain . . These tricks have been exposed because those actress are very bad . . only idiots believe this play

The guy was shot with a rubber bullet

 

[ahmed_naj]

Instead the king took the highly provocative step of calling in outside military forces (the mostly Saudi "Peninsula Shield" of the Gulf Cooperation Council). So the protests continued.

The writer of this article missed the 'peaceful protesters' attacking sunni students in the University of Bahrain, where the eff was he when this happened. the gcc forces were called after this incident.

(notice the hijacked ambulances).

An hour later I saw another huge column of black smoke billowing up. What I couldn't see were the Bahraini and Saudi forces attacking the protesters (killing two and injuring many more) and burning their tents.

idiots burned their own tents (look at 3.30 specifically) :

A Bahraini friend could not contain his emotion in describing to me how members of his extended family in villages outside Manama had their houses broken into by thugs affiliated with the internal security organisations.

they attacked houses of sunnis and killed inocent labourers (indians and bangladeshis included) and took some of them hostage. No antigovernment protesters were killed by vigilantes. This was a revenge attack most likely and i am not justifying it but there are two sides two a story

Clearly the authorities have decided that force, not negotiation, will be their preferred strategy.

force was used to maintain order, protests were going on for a month and aslong as they were peaceful they were allowed to carry on, but no some idiots in the opposition decided to damage public property, attack the national university and march into sunni majority areas.

 

[Hussein]

strangely we see nothing from your videos
about the hospital
and yes the king who paid you said Iranians were transporting weapons in hospital from the Iranian ambassy
what a joke !
first how so many Iranians do this job when only ambassy could do
second how Iranian ambassy can enter an hospital?
third since your king said they fake the transport of medics, how could the hospital take medics from Iranian ambassy?

this is too much propaganda with no brain.
ask your king some consulting about lies... give a call to Ahmadinejad: he is the expert.

 

[ahmed_naj]

Bahraini state television has accused staff at the hospital of discriminating against Sunni patients and exaggerating the number of casualties. It also said activists had occupied the complex, turning it into a tool of the revolt.

propaganda! This was a government hospital it had to treat patients regardless of sect or race. A hospital is no place to keep hostages: