There is a growing tension between the government and the opposition in Bahrain, for the sole reason that the supplementary elections are going to be held soon, on the 24th of September, and the fact that Al-Wefaq group has realized that it has lost its wager, missed the opportunity of achieving some of its demands, and is thus now intent on ruining the chances brought by the elections for others. I will not allow myself to be provoked with the accumulated mistakes since February to attack the opposition. Instead, I just want to reiterate here that the opposition in Bahrain has legitimate demands, and I have conveyed this to the Crown Prince in February and to the King in August; I had also noted this in this column and I restate it here today. As such, my only objection was to the manner in which these demands were to be addressed, as this has failed miserably, and soon, other Shiite deputies will come and will achieve the demands that were in the hands of Al-Wefaq, before they slipped right through their fingers. What transpired in Bahrain in the last six months was not a revolution for reform, but an attempted coup d'état, starting with the pro-Iranian extremist Hassan Mushaima, the leader of the Al-Haq group, or gang, and Sheikh Ali al-Qasim, who claimed in his sermon, on the last Friday in Ramadan, that the rulers of Bahrain would meet the same fate as Gaddafi if they do not respond to the demands for reform. But is the King or his Crown Prince like Gaddafi? I say to the Sheikh, the advocate of Velayat-e faqih [clerical rule]: Shame on you. I also add by telling him that he is talking through a ‘remote control' located in Tehran. It is sufficient here to compare the extremism of this cleric to the call by King Hamad bin Isa for tolerance and for shunning violence, and his pledge to investigate the accusations pertaining to the incidents of the past six months, and compensate those affected, and before this, his move to form an independent international fact-finding commission led by the prominent jurist Mahmoud Shereen Bassiouni to investigate his government before investigating the opposition. Ali al-Qasim is a cleric whose allegiance is to Iran, where he is appointed to the Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly. However, he seems to want to be the supreme leader of Bahrain after turning it into an Iranian village, and all claims to the contrary are lies or self-deception, including the denial of the direct relationship between the increased tension and the upcoming supplementary elections. When I was in Bahrain six months ago, I heard shouts in Lulu Square calling for the downfall of the regime. This is an attempted coup d'état, and not reform. Also, when I was in Bahrain two weeks ago, I asked my taxi driver to take me in a tour of the streets of Manama and the areas around at night, and I saw little kids shouting slogans and calling for the downfall of the regime. Some were even carrying stones, but they did not hurl any at us. Who sent those kids to the street at night? They were sent by their parents, and those who want an Iranian-style Islamic republic. Thus, we heard about how a little 14 year old boy, Ali Jawad Ahmad, was killed, after being hit by a tear gas canister. I demand that the Bahraini government investigate, as promised, into the circumstances surrounding the death of this child victim, and that the investigation be comprehensive and fair. Then those responsible, if indeed they are found, must be punished. I then ask those who marched in the poor child's procession, to ask themselves why a small child is protesting, like those kids I saw in the streets at night. My answer would be that the adults are pushing the kids to protest, because the authorities would not arrest them, or in other words, they are risking their children in a losing confrontation, because the regime will not collapse. I write while being aware that many will object to my views. However, I insist that the Al-Wefaq group has made a mistake with its boycott [of the dialogue and elections], and by marching behind Al-Haq and Wafa, and now by using children and others in the confrontation. If the opposition had gone through with the negotiations, it would have achieved many of its important demands, and put itself in a better position to demand more. So perhaps its realization that it has taken itself into a dead end is what is pushing it to try to abort the upcoming elections. I say this while having sufficient mail from Bahraini dissidents to make me realize that I am talking to deaf ears. Some of them even compete in obnoxiousness with some in the Syrian opposition, as they choose to ignore the incontrovertible facts I record here to focus on the luxurious iftar dinner galas that I was invited to. This is while bearing in mind that I had visited Bahrain in Ramadan, did not see King Hamad bin Isa until the final day, and hours after I met with him, I was at the airport. Further, my presence there during the fasting month meant that Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak, the Deputy Prime Minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed, President of the Information Affairs Authority, did not offer me a glass of water or a cup of coffee when I was with them, let alone food or sweets. And yet, a hungry dissident comes to dream of iftar meals. Today, there is embarrassment among official British circles, perhaps culminating with an investigation about Dr. Saeed Shahabi, a Bahraini with Iranian allegiance and who endorses every stance taken by the Islamic Republic. Yet, he was received by Gordon Brown, and he addressed the House of Lords, calling for the downfall of monarchy in Bahrain…i.e. he is another Hassan Mushaima. [email protected]
