Hiring of Pak fighters for Bahrain angers Iran!!!

[bhramos]

LAHORE: Tehran has conveyed its resentment to Islamabad over continuing recruitment of the retired Pakistani military officials to bolster the strength of the security forces of Bahrain, which have been cracking down on pro-democracy Shia protesters in the Gulf state with the help of the neighbouring Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Fauji Security Services (Pvt) Limited, which is run by the Fauji Foundation, a subsidiary of the Pakistan Army, is currently recruiting on war footing basis thousands of retired military personnel from the Pakistan Army, Navy and the Air Force who will be getting jobs in the Gulf region, especially in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. But sources in the Fauji Foundation say over 90 per cent of the fresh recruitments, which started in the backdrop of the recent political upheaval in the Arab world, are being sent to Bahrain to perform services in the Bahrain National Guard (BNG), and that too at exorbitant salaries. Thousands of ex-servicemen of the Pakistani origin are already serving in Bahrain and the fresh recruitments are aimed at boosting up the strength of the BNG to deal with the country's majority Shia population, which is calling for replacement of the Sunni monarchy. Bahrain's ruling elite is Sunni, although about 70% of the population is Shia.

While taking serious notice of the ongoing recruitment process for Bahrain, the Iranian foreign minister has reportedly warned Pakistan that if the recruitment was not stopped by Islamabad, it would have serious ramifications for diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Iran. According to well-informed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Pakistan's charge d'affairs in Tehran Dr Aman Rashid was recently summoned to Iran's foreign ministry by deputy foreign minister Behrouz Kamalvandi to convey his country's serious reservations over the recruitment of thousands of Pakistanis for Bahrain's armed forces and police. However, it seems that the decision makers in Islamabad have ignored the Iranian warning as the recruitment process continues. Approached for comments, a senior official of the Fauji Foundation said while requesting anonymity that the foundation has been making such recruitments for almost 50 years and nothing unusual has happened now.

The recruits are being promised around 100,000 Pakistani rupees a month, besides other perks and privileges including free medical facilities and accommodation. According to available figures, over 1,000 Pakistanis have so far been recruited in March 2011 alone while 1,500 more would be hired in next few weeks. Advertisements appearing in several Pakistani newspapers stated that the Bahrain National Guard immediately requires experienced people with required qualifications as anti-riot instructors and security guards. In fact, Bahrain has long been a happy hunting ground for ex-Pakistani army personnel — an estimated 10,000 Pakistanis are already serving in various security services of Bahrain.

But what is being clearly seen as Sunni and Shia rivalries, Iran is annoyed with the recruitment of mainly Sunni Muslims for the Bahraini security forces because it blames them for crushing a mainly Shia uprising against the rule of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Tehran believes that all these recruitments were being made at the behest of Saudi Arabia. For long, Riyadh has been one of the two foreign hands — the other being the US — rocking the cradle of Pakistani politics, brokering truce among warring leaders, providing asylum to those being exiled and generously lavishing funds on a state strapped for cash. But the explosion of democratic upsurge is gradually bringing about a role reversal — it is Pakistan's assistance the Arab royal families have now sought to quell rebellion in West Asia, rekindling memories of 1969 when the personnel of the Pakistani Air Force flew the Saudi fighter planes to ward off an invasion from South Yemen.

In the backdrop of the current political uprisings in the Middle East and the Arab world which has led to the ouster of several autocratic rulers of the Muslim world, it seems that Pakistan has decided to play a key role in the region by supporting Saudi Arabia to pre-empt a possible revolt against the Saudi Kingdom, with whom Pakistan has had a longstanding cozy relationship for almost half a century now. According to diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Pakistan seems eager to become the bulwark of the royal families against the popular Arab rage. They further say Islamabad has kept at standby two divisions of the Pakistan Army for deployment in Saudi Arabia should the simmering discontent there bubble over.

Pakistan in fact turned its gaze towards West Asia following the visits of, first, Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz and then, Bahrain's foreign minister, Khalid bin Ahmed al Khalifa, in March. Though pro-democracy sentiments haven't gathered a critical mass in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh is worried that the popular upsurge in Bahrain, a mainly Shia country over which Sunni kings rule, could well, with time, permeate across the border. The Americans seem to have endorsed Riyadh's decision to seek Islamabad's assistance. In return, the Saudi prince has offered support to resuscitate the Pakistan economy and meets its energy demands. But the khaki circles in Rawalpindi believe that Pakistan won't commit its regular forces to a country other than Saudi Arabia.

Already, the presence of Pakistanis in Bahrain's security forces prompted pro-democracy forces to target the expatriate community. The Pakistani Embassy in Bahrain recently reported that two Pakistani-born policemen and three other Pakistanis were killed and another 40 injured in the clashes between the security forces and protesters, some of whom told the media that they were set upon by uniformed men speaking Urdu. Analysts, therefore, feel that Pakistan could get embroiled in the Sunni-Shia rivalry for supremacy in West Asia. Iranian media has already predicted a prominent role for Pakistan in West Asia, accusing Islamabad of "collaborating with the Sunni rulers of Bahrain to crush a pro-democracy movement". As Tehran is supporting the Shia protesters and Saudi Arabia is siding with Bahrain's king, the recruitments from Pakistan give an impression as if Pakistan is on the anti-Iran side.

In other words, as things stand, Islamabad, wittingly or unwittingly, has become the frontline state for protecting the supremacy of Sunni Islam which would not be taken lightly by Iran that has the ability to create problems in Balochistan province, neighbouring Iran. Although protests against Islamabad's growing role in the Gulf region have been largely non-existent in Pakistan, dozens of activists belonging to small groups who protested outside the Islamabad Press Club recently, decried hiring of mercenaries from Pakistan to curb pro-democracy forces in Bahrain. With the uprising in Bahrain decidedly having a popular base, some feel it would turn the people of Bahrain against Pakistan, which is perceived as the stooge of its imperialist masters.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=5318&Cat=13&dt=4/15/2011

 

[Rage]

They're demolishing Shia mosques in Bahrain!!

How much more pathetic can this regime get? Somebody needs to kick these cvnts out now.


Shia mosque demolitions raise tension in Bahrain

NUWAIDRAT: Two bulldozers and two large trucks are busy removing a large pile of stones, wood and prayer carpets on a large square – all that remains of a small Shia mosque in the Sunni-ruled kingdom of Bahrain.

"Do you see this? This was a mosque until this week. They destroyed it," said a Shia man, stopping his car in this poor Shia village outside the capital Manama to point to another heap of masonry, where residents say another mosque once stood.

A religious book lies on top of stones next to a carpet, branches of a palm tree and parts of a gate of a mosque, one of three reduced to rubble next in a residential area.

"It was an old mosque," said the driver, who like other residents declined to give his name for fear of reprisals.

Last month the royal family in Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, quelled mainly Shia protests inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere, declaring martial law and calling in troops from Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled Gulf neighbours.

Hundreds of Shia have been detained and others fired from public sector jobs, the opposition says. The government says it targets only people who committed crimes in the unrest.

Now majority Shia say the authorities have begun pulling down their mosques, a policy likely to inflame sectarian tensions further among the island's 600,000 nationals.

The Justice Ministry acknowledges that what it calls illegally built structures, which it does not refer to as mosques, are being torn down. "The ministry will provide legal alternatives for buildings with a license for those cabins and facilities being removed," it said on its website.

A Shia mosque administrator, who gave his name only as Ali, said the religious authorities "didn't have a clue" when he called them to inquire about the demolitions.

"The next day another mosque was gone here," he said, drinking tea with other residents in the shade of a house wall.

"Security troops and civil defence personnel came in the night with bulldozers and removed this mosque."

Faisal Fulad, of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, a Sunni politician close to government thinking, denied the policy was discriminatory. Large or old mosques were not affected.

"These are small mosques, buildings built there without papers," he said. "If you want to build a church in Germany or England you need to apply for a license," he said.

Angry Shia

But villagers in Nuweidrat, a decrepit place a half-hour's drive from Manama but a world away from its fancy hotels and bars, feel the demolitions typify anti-Shia prejudice.

"They destroyed the mosques because we are Shia," said one man, sitting on the ground with a circle of friends.

Majority Shia have long complained of sectarian discrimination in a country where the hardline Sunni prime minister, the king's uncle, has held his post for four decades.

"The destroyed mosques all had electricity and were registered with the proper authority," said a man in his 40s.

The main opposition group Wefaq, which withdrew its 18 deputies in protest against the crackdown, said some 25 Shia mosques had been razed since then.

"Some mosques were 20 or 30 years old, some had an older heritage," said a Wefaq leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, adding that some might have existed before the government required licences.

Daniel Williams at New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said he was surprised by the government's sudden interest in mosque licences when it was busy with security issues.

"The government knew about these mosques. They tolerated them for a long time," Williams said. "The sudden action makes it suspicious. This is not an isolated incident."

On Thursday, Amnesty International said government opponents faced a "relentless and violent crackdown" in Bahrain.

Checkpoint abuses

The Shia mosque demolitions are taking place while the government is trying to show that life has returned to normal.

Pro-government media quote officials, businessmen and expatriates thanking security forces for ending the unrest.

The king has ordered compensation for soldiers and security staff wounded in the protests, including housing and other benefits for their families, state media said on Friday.

Sunni rights activists acknowledge some violations by security forces that should be investigated, but say the crackdown was needed to stop chaos after radical Shia parties called for the overthrow of the ruling Khalifa family.

"Like in any other country you need to restore stability," said Fulad. "The radical parties stole the demands of others."

Moderate Shia also accept that some Sunnis had suffered some Shia violence which should be investigated, but point to what they say is random sectarian mistreatment of Shia.

"Look what they did to me at a checkpoint," said Abu Ahmed, a Shia driver in his 30s, removing his shirt to show two long bloody cuts on his back. "A soldier asked whether I was Shia and when I said yes he asked me the king's name. I did so, but did not give his full title so he beat me with a baton."

"Then he asked me to recite the text of the national anthem but I couldn't. So he hit me again," he said, before logging a complaint at Wefaq headquarters, which shares such accounts with human rights groups. "They finally let me go but it was scary."

Such incidents are hard to verify. The government says all claims of abuse will be investigated. Reuters interviewed eight Shia who said they had been abused at checkpoints or elsewhere by the security forces, which are dominated by Sunnis.

"I heard several accounts of verbal and physical abuses at checkpoints," said HRW's Williams. "I find them credible." – Reuters


http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/22/shia-mosque-demolitions-raise-tension-in-bahrain.html

 

[civfanatic]

They're demolishing Shia mosques in Bahrain!!

How much more pathetic can this regime get? Somebody needs to kick these cvnts out now.

Who would that be?

None of the Western countries will raise a finger against a US puppet regime.

 

[Rage]

Who would that be?

None of the Western countries will raise a finger against a US puppet regime.

Iran probably. Of course with it vying for influence with Saudi Arabia in the Island Kingdom, that's unlikely.

 

[civfanatic]

Iran probably. Of course with it vying for influence with Saudi Arabia in the Island Kingdom, that's unlikely.

Overt Iranian intervention in Bahrain = US Military gets involved. Iran is in no position to contest the US militarily.

The best they can do is covert support to rebels and dissidents in the country, which hopefully they already are doing.

 

[Rage]

Overt Iranian intervention in Bahrain = US Military gets involved. Iran is in no position to contest the US militarily.

The best they can do is covert support to rebels and dissidents in the country, which hopefully they already are doing.

Absoloutely. One other reason for Iran not wanting to engage in overt assistance, is that it would provide a legitimizing reason for prolonged U.S. presence in a 'staging area'. If, indeed, the US had plans to attack Iran <which, I believe, it does not> then Bahrain serves as a useful launching pad (logistically, militarily: since Iran will have to be defeated naval-ly first; and politically: because all regimes involved in the military effort would be either US puppets, or antagonistic towards Iran).

Covert assistance is Iran's best bet, but the fact that Bahrain has no culture of a Hizb'ullah or that it lacks contiguous borders for the funnelling of arms through charitable states like Syria means that even covert assistance programmes are rendered all the more difficult.

 

[Yusuf]

Apart from money, I doubt Iran can do anything for Bahrains Shias in terms of arms and ammunition. It can't use the sea route as it's manned by USN. May be it could hire KSAs Shias to do the job but I really don't know if it would work out. I really don't think there is a lot Iran can other than invite a war if it gets too excited.

 

[Blackwater]

well piasktan is thaekedar of islamic duniya. They can do what ever they want. Hirirng pak pilots will give them money.They need money. I mean they desperately need money

 

[Oracle]

Iran objecting to Bahrain's cracking down on pro-democracy protesters is ludicrous while Iran itself is a dictatorial theocratic state. The cause is not democracy, but to be seen and accepted as championing the cause of Shia's in different countries. Bahrain is ruled by Sunnis and so is Pakistan, while Iran is predominantly Shia.

 

[Ray]

It is a geostrategic reason fired by the Sunni Shia divide that has prompted Pakistan to send its own 'Blackwater' into Bahrain.

The US has a large naval base in Bahrain. Yet, the US does not want to intervene since they are trying to project a 'benign' image of their country these days as it is so evident in Libya too, where they are projecting themselves as the 'second fiddle'.

Notwithstanding the US intention to appear 'neutral', it cannot allow a Shia uprising that will be pro Iran either, given the fact that the US presence in Bahrain secures the western flank of the Straits of Hormuz and can effectively react to any action by Iran to block the Straits of Hormuz, through which much of the world's oil requirements transit.

In this geostrategic scenario, Pakistan is the ideal proxy, being Sunni as also with Pakistan having problems with Iran over the Jundallah terrorists it unleashed from the bases in Pakistan.

It would be not surprising if Saudi Arabia is funding the whole issue of Pakistani mercenaries since Saudi Arabia is very chary of any advent of Shias towards Saudi Arabia. The eastern part of Saudi Arabia,where there is the oil, borders Bahrain and is composed of Shias.

 

[Rage]

Iran objecting to Bahrain's cracking down on pro-democracy protesters is ludicrous while Iran itself is a dictatorial theocratic state. The cause is not democracy, but to be seen and accepted as championing the cause of Shia's in different countries. Bahrain is ruled by Sunnis and so is Pakistan, while Iran is predominantly Shia.

I won't conflate the general point. But Iran is a lot more tolerant of its Zoroastrian, Sunni and Christian minorities- than Bahrain, at least for the past few years. In Bahrain, they are denied basic rights of citizenship, while in Iran, even though they're made to conform to certain Shia Islamic modes of conduct, they are not subject to different legal, civil and criminal frameworks as their counterparts in Bahrain. What's worse is that the Shia are an outright majority! What Bahrain has basically become, is a coterie of a minority.