JNN 13 Nov 2015 Beirut : Atleast 43 people have been Martyred in Lebanon’s worst terrorist attack this year after a double suicide bombing in south Beirut upended a fragile peace. Continue reading
JNN 13 Nov 2015 Beirut : Atleast 43 people have been Martyred in Lebanon’s worst terrorist attack this year after a double suicide bombing in south Beirut upended a fragile peace. Continue reading
JNN 23 May 2014 Baghdad : Two suicide bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens more Thursday despite a heavy security deployment, Iraqi security and medical officials said. Continue reading
JNN 20 Jan 2014 Tehran : The first ever Japanese Language Translation of the Quran with a Shiite Perspective is ready for publication. Continue reading
JNN 20 Jan 2014 Beirut : Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri says he is now ready to share power with his rivals Hezbollah if that’s what it takes to help Lebanon finally form a government after nine months of political deadlock. Continue reading
JNN 17 Dec 2013 Baghdad : At least 77 people were killed and 138 others wounded in violent attack in Iraq on Monday, including Suicide attacks on Shiite pilgrims in the capital city of Baghdad, police said. Continue reading
JNN 19 Nov 2013 Baghdad : Iraqi provincial authorities estimated two million Iraqi and foreign pilgrims visited the holy city of Karbala in the 10 days leading up to Ashura, with all of the city’s hotels fully booked. Continue reading
JNN 16 Nov 2013 Baghdad : A Sunni-Shiite rift is a worrying trend in the Middle East but recent developments in Turkey’s ties with Iraq and Iran could prevent the threat of a sectarian war, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday as he visited Baghdad in the latest sign of a thaw in bilateral relations, Hurriyet Daily News reported. Continue reading
JNN 26 Oct 2013 DURHAM, England — THIS summer, disgruntled Saudis took their grievances online in droves, complaining of ever-growing inequality, rising poverty, corruption and unemployment. Their Twitter campaign became one of the world’s highest trending topics.
It caused great alarm within elite circles in Saudi Arabia and sent ripples throughout the region. The rallying cry that “salaries are not enough” helped to prove that the monarchy’s social contract with its people is now publicly coming unstuck, and on a significant scale.
Many experts believe that the Gulf states have survived the Arab Spring because they are different. After all, they’ve weathered numerous past storms — from the Arab nationalist revolutions of the 1950s and ’60s to Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait to an Al Qaeda terror campaign in 2003.
But they are not different in any fundamental way. They have simply bought time with petrodollars. And that time is running out.
The sheiks of the Persian Gulf might not face the fate of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya or Hosni Mubarak of Egypt next year, but the system they have created is untenable in the longer term and it could come apart even sooner than many believe.
Saudi Arabia is the kingpin of the six Gulf monarchies, so its internal stability is crucial for the region, especially since so much attention has now been turned toward these anachronistic political systems in the wake of the 2011 uprisings.
Although it’s never healthy to treat any state as exceptional, Saudi Arabia is indeed a bit different from its neighbors. Unlike Mr. Mubarak or Colonel Qaddafi, Saudi Arabia’s octogenarian king, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, has had the oil-financed means to buy off protesters. He has managed to calm the anger that has flared up in his backyard by ramping up subsidies, dramatically increasing public-sector employment and announcing huge and unprecedented government spending programs. So far, this has been a fast and effective way to keep the masses off the streets.
But this is not evidence of royal resilience, as some Western diplomats and academics have argued. On the contrary, Saudi Arabia’s resource-fueled strategy is a response to rising discontent across the region, and it is driven by a deep-seated fear that restive populations across the Arab world could incite unrest closer to home.
Moreover, spending for stability’s sake in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf monarchies will necessarily be quite short-lived. The kingdom pledged a record-breaking $500 billion for “welfare” this year — most to be spent on social security subsidies and new public sector jobs.
Such vast wealth distribution can’t be kept going for much longer. That level of public expenditure is not sustainable and it flies in the face of decades of efforts to promote better fiscal accountability in the kingdom and wean the population off handouts and public-sector entitlement.
Thus, on top of declining oil reserves, rapidly rising domestic energy consumption and increasing energy-supply diversification among its allies, the kingdom’s spiraling spending is also fast raising the break-even oil price for Saudi Arabia and all five of the other Gulf monarchies; in other words, the price of a barrel of oil that these states need in order to balance their books is getting higher and higher. In Bahrain it’s now over $115 (far higher than yesterday’s price of around $102) while in Oman it’s up to $104.
In Bahrain and Oman, dependency on a high oil price is becoming perilous, while in the small oil-rich monarchies, ministers are starting to talk openly of a break-even price. That would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. In early October, even Kuwait received a warning from the International Monetary Fund. It was told it had to rein in its spending on welfare and public sector jobs and boost non-oil income as soon as possible.
Much worse for the Gulf’s ruling families than the looming economic crisis is the fact that their repressive response to protests is now starting to have a demonstrable impact on their legitimacy as carefully honed social contracts begin to fray.
The initial slew of arrests and small number of deaths in the first half of 2011 have since been dwarfed by huge crackdowns. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been the most brutal, with dozens dead in Bahrain and about 18 killed in Saudi Arabia. All the neighboring states have taken many political prisoners. Last year, Qatar even sentenced a poet critical of autocracies to life imprisonment, later commuted to 15 years.
These moves have caught the international community off guard — especially those institutions and governments that had bought into the myth of Gulf monarchies’ benevolence. But far more important, the rulers’ increasing heavy-handedness has not gone unnoticed by domestic populations.
In countries that enjoy some of the highest broadband and smartphone penetration rates in the world, there is more access to information than ever before. People are now openly questioning the large numbers of political prisoners, the use of counterterrorism laws to justify mass arrests and the open assaults being made on what’s left of civil society, academia and the media.
Bahrain is a tiny island just a few miles across a causeway from Saudi Arabia and now increasingly something of a vassal state to Riyadh. The country’s pro-democracy activists have borne the brunt of state repression. Their protests, which were on the cusp of full-blown revolution in mid-2011, were repeatedly attacked by mercenaries — often from Pakistan and Jordan — while the government invited direct military interventions by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The bulk of the country’s population — who are Shiites — are unlikely to ever again accept living under a traditional Sunni monarchy.
The iconic Pearl Roundabout, which had served as a rallying point in Manama, was bulldozed in 2011, and dozens of Shiite mosques were destroyed. More dangerously, Shiites in Bahrain and eastern Saudi Arabia have been victims of a vicious sectarian strategy, as the Saudi government has sought to persuade Sunni citizens and Western allies that they are fighting against the proxies of a dangerous, expansionist Iran, rather than the democratic vanguard of a popular revolt.
Even the U.A.E. has played this foreign boogeyman card. Lacking a substantial Shiite population of its own, the Emirati authorities have instead attacked what they claim to be the “Emirati Muslim Brotherhood” by arresting hundreds of citizens, including dozens of members of a peaceful longstanding local Islamist organization. Now, with one of the highest political prisoner per capita rates in the world, the U.A.E. has human rights lawyers, academics and students behind bars. Even a former judge and a ruling family member have been accused of “plotting to overthrow the state.”
Much like the spending strategy, these clampdowns have bought some time, but at a huge cost to rulers’ legitimacy. Divide-and-conquer measures like stoking sectarian tensions and blaming foreign meddling can keep attention away from autocratic political systems for only so long.
When the Gulf monarchies’ exceptionalism inevitably runs out of steam, and it will, their populations will be well placed to take their part in the bigger, regionwide shift in the political order that is happening at the expense of unaccountable repressive elites and in favor of a more vocal, politically conscious and better-connected youth.
Note : Christopher M. Davidson is the author of “After the Sheikhs: The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies,” who teaches Middle East politics at Durham University.
A version of this op-ed appears in print on October 20, 2013, on page SR5 of the New York edition with the headline: The Last of The Sheiks?.
JNN 14 Oct 2013 Baghdad : Amid the rising flames of sectarianism, occasionally there are people and groups that hurl insults at other religious sects, fueling the fire and stoking the cycle of violence and hatred. In contrast, moderate Iraqi clergymen make every effort to thwart this trend and try, as much as possible, to limit its influence. Continue reading
JNN 30 Sept 2013 Manama : Thousands of Bahrianis came out on the Roads to register their Protest in the west of the country’s capital, Manama, over the arrest of a prominent opposition figure, just hours after another rally ended with clashes with police. Continue reading
JNN 02 Aug 2013 Jakarta : Sampang’s persecuted Shiite Muslim minority, fearful of another round of forced conversions by Wahabi Muslims, called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to ensure their religious freedom after a forum meant to negotiate the exiled group’s homecoming placed the matter in the hands of Wahabi clerics accused of inciting sectarian tensions in Madura Island.
JNN 30 July 2013 RIYADH: Saudi security forces arrested nine Shiites after a gunbattle in the oil-rich east, one of them wanted over protests among the Shiite minority community, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported on Tuesday. Continue reading
JNN 15 July 2013 Najaf : Believers & Faithful Waiting by and eyes with eagerness to watch the new mausoleum of Muslim Bin Akeel (A.S), Najaf and Alkufa city received the new mausoleum with enormous, popular and official attendance.
The big ceremony was attended by officials, representatives of holy thresholds and a big crowd of Alkufi people where it launched by reading verses of holy Quran then a speech of secretariat delivered by secretary –general of Alkufa mosque Sayyid Mosa Taqi Al Khulkhally who congratulated to the whole believers the arrival of Safeer’AlHussain ( A.S) new mausoleum to Alkufa city.
Sayyid Al Khulkhally remarked to the specification existed in new mausoleum, also within his speech he thanked Almarjayah, Shiite endowment, the security forces, mass media for its covering efforts and all those who participated in this great event.
The ceremony was concluded by poem by Dr. Muhammad Hussain Asagheer which was delivered on behalf of Dr. Asageer by Dr. Al Alhajyah , in charge of Intellectual and religious affairs of Alawyah holy threshold then a supper meal was delivered over the congratulators.
JNN 03 July 2013 BAGHDAD—Terrorists unleashed a new wave of attacks on Tuesday in Iraq, killing at least 53 people, officials said, the latest in a surge in violence across the country that has raised concerns over a return to sectarian bloodshed. Also, seven militants were killed. Continue reading
JNN 13 June 2013 Manama : The Bahraini authorities have taken on a campaign to siege certain areas known to be opponent to the Government. A number of Shia residential areas have been isolated and surrounded with barriers or fences in order to contain protests inside. Continue reading
JNN 08 June 2013 BAQUBA: A Suicide car bomb in a restive town north of Iraq’s capital killed atleast 16 Iranian pilgrims on Friday, officials said, the latest in a spike in violence that has sparked fears of all-out sectarian war. Continue reading
JNN 08 June 2013 Karachi : Target Killing of Shia Community Men have once again accelerated as the Terrorists are on the Loose , On rampage , and the LEA are busy in transfers and Postings as the New Government is in the formation Process , which is even least Bothered of the Shia Killing , and more over have a soft corner for the Terrorists of SSP , LeJ and TTP , as even these terrorist are have so much confidence on them , as they are ready to take their guarantees , As it looks like that both have the same roots and the same Masters .
On Friday , 8th June the Terrorist of Sipah e Sahaba , targeted another Trustee of the Bara Imam Imambargah , in the Limits of Lyari Town , Karachi. Waqar Hussain s/o Zakir Hussain , 30 was targeted in the Bheempura area of Lyari Town . Due to the firing of the terrorist Waqar was critically injured , and was rushed to the Civil Hospital , but due to the fatal wounds , he could not survive and was Pronounced Dead on Arrival .
Lyari Town which is also a Den of Criminal and terrorist and even earlier , Another Trustee of the Baara Imam Imambargah Qamar Allah Ditta , and other Members of the Matmi Anjumans were also Martyred in the same area.
On Saturday 1st June , A young Shia man was shot Martyred in Paposh Nagar , Nazimabad , area of Karachi , in what police described as the Shia Target Killing . The area police said that 30-year-old Hasan Raza was going to his workplace on a motorbike when he was targeted by armed men riding a motorbike near Makki Masjid. As he reached near Khilafat Chowk, two men on a motorbike intercepted and fired shots at him before speeding away, said an official at the Paoposh Nagar police station.
He was hit by two bullets in the chest and died on the spot. The attackers used 9mm pistol a widely used weapon in such kind of killings. The body was handed over to the family after medicolegal formalities at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Martyr Hassan was the Resident of Paposh Nagar in Nazimabad, the victim married to a girl only three months ago, the police investigators said.
The victim was an active member of the Anjuman-I Karwan-i-Hussain, said a spokesman of the Majlis-iWahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM).
On Friday 31st May , Notorious armed terrorists of outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba and banned Taliban attacked Shia houses and Imam Bargah in Paharh Ganj area of Karachi on Friday night due to which one Shia Muslim was martyred. The takfiri terrorists first incited people by making fiery speeches using the area mosque’s loud speakers.
After that the Mosque Loud Speaker were used to incite the area Population to attack the Shia Population of the Adjoining area and finally the terrorist of the Banned Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan ( TTP) began attacks on defenseless Shiites living in Paharh Ganj area.
Due to their firing and attacks, one 12 year old Shia Muslim Akbar Ali was martyred on the spot. The terrorists of TTP attacked a Shia Mosque “Masjid-e-Nabvi wa AzaKhana Saqa-e-Sakina (SA)“which was defended by the Shia Youth of the Area, while in the Process the two Shia Men even embraced Martyrdom , as the terrorist restored to heavy firing and attacked from Multiple sides.
One Asghar Ali was earlier martyred on Thursday in similar sort of attack by the terrorists. According to details, 14 years old Muhammad Akbar who was child activist of Jafria Students Organization (JSO) and Asghar Ali were martyred in the terrorist attack on the Hussain D’Silva area of Pahar Ganj, North Nazimabad.
Shia parties and leaders have condemned the terrorist attacks on innocent Shiites in which young children have been martyred. They said that intelligence agencies and police and rangers were well aware of the presence of the terrorists of banned terrorist outfits. But their inaction towards the terrorists and Banned Organistaions is a Big Question Mark on the Partiality and their Professional Performance .
29th May 2013 Another Young Shia Man , Yasir Iqbal alias Bunti , who was also An activist of a Local political party MQM , resident of Shah Faisal Colony was targeted by the armed terrorists of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan , in Shah Faisal Colony-5. Shaheed Yasir Iqbal was an active Shia man
On Tuesday 28th May, terrorists of Sipah-e-Sahaba opened fire on Shiite man Syed Agha Meer Shah injuring him in Peshawar’s Meerwah. He was rushed to The Lady Redding Hospital where he embraced Martydom ,due to the fatal bullet wounds.
The martyr was the sole bread earner of the house and has left behind an 11 year old son. The attack on Syed Agha Meer Shah was the second incident of Shiite genocide in Peshawar on the 28th of May. The city also witnessed a blast outside an imambargah on the same day which killed another 2 Shiites.
The security agencies have so far refrained from commenting on the matter.
27th May 2013 Martyr Arshad Abbas Naqvi was gunned by the armed militants of banned Takfiri outfits in Organi Town district West. He was the member of Pak Hyderi and Qayyam Scouts open group. 22 May 2013
Wednesday evening.Abbas Haider s/o Riaz Haider , 45 a shia newspapers Hawker in Gulbahar district central of Karachi . He was also targeted in the same Gulbahar Area. The terrorists opened fire upon him near Liaquat Chowk.
The Bullet injuries were fatal , and he embraced Martyrdom on the spot .He was a resident of Jafaria Colony, Gulbahar
On the same day in the Limit of Quetta City of Balochistan , Another takfiri Police constable shot martyred his Senior Shia Police Officer , Aiwaz Ali . Aiwaz Ali, the victim was Station House Officer (SHO) at Gulistan Police Station of Gulistan area of Quetta. Police constable Naimatullah , who was deputed as his driver opened fire upon Aiwaz and due to which he embraced martyrdom. The culprit was arrested.
Other then his professional responsibilities Ali was a chairman of Naveed-e-Sahr Welfare Association and was involved in social services for the Hazara community. As he also belonged to the Hazara Shia Community.
After the Incident the Pakistani newspapers even reported on Wednesday. The Assasin Police Constable Naimatullah ,of Takfiri Ideology even confessed during investigation that “He was a Shia Police Officer and I killed him,”.
A thorough screening of the LEA’s have to be ordered , if Pakistan has to take U turn from the sanctuary of terrorists , as the Pakistani LEA’s are heavily infested by the Takfiri Wahabi Terrorists , which are not only the enemies of Shia Community, but are also the Murderers of Common Citizens of Pakistan, and have even also killed thousands of Personnel of the Armed forces also.
It should also be noted that the Interim Chief Minister of Punjab Najam Sethi Government also released about 110 Hard Core Criminals , and since then the Terrorism and Target Killing has intensified . The Journalist turned the Previous CM Punjab Najam Sethi , has a Soft Corner for the Terrorist Networks like Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar e Jhangvi ,as even in his Journalist Stunts he always have tried to accommodate the terrorist of Banned Outfits , by Promoting them as Much as he can , by giving them Maximum air time and full coverage , giving them time to Propgate their Takfiri Ideology.
The government has failed to cap the violence against the Shia community and no credible action is seen on ground against the banned outfits, which are involved in these killings and openly claim the acts of terrorism. And instead their Sponsor Political Parties are now trying to Bring them in the Main Stream Politics of the country.
The MWM demands a military operation in the Karachi city , and to Initiate the Operation Clean up across the country , to put Pakistan Back on track of Prosperity and Rising as the Economic hub of the Region.
JNN 28 May 2013 Baghdad : A series of blasts ripped through Iraq’s capital on Monday, killing more than 70 and leaving many wounded, marking the latest in over 350 deaths this month as sectarian violence continues to overwhelm the country. Continue reading
JNN 20 May 2013 Bankok : Governor of Ayutthaya, mayor of Qom and other officials from Iran and Thailand attended a ceremony in honour of Pioneer of Shiite in Thailand , Sheikh Ahmad Qomi, in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Continue reading
JNN 28 Feb 2013 Quetta : Ismatullah holds an AK-47 and checks vehicles on the road. “Enough is enough. We have no trust in the security forces any more and we’ll protect our community ourselves,” says the teenage Shiite student. Continue reading
JNN 18 Jan 2013 BAGHDAD — Insurgents unleashed a string of bomb attacks mainly targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims across Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 26 people and extending a deadly wave of bloodshed into a second day. Continue reading
JNN 21 Oct 2012 BAGHDAD: Wahabi Al Qaida Terrorist blew up a bomb and opened fire at a bus packed with Pakistani Shia pilgrims, Martyring four worshipers and wounding 11 others north of Baghdad, officials said on Friday Continue reading
JNN 09 Oct 2012 Jakarata : Efforts by the local government to quell violence against Shiites have hit a standstill in Sampang, leaving nearly 200 Shiite Muslims stranded in a local sports center after a deadly Sunni mob attack sent them fleeing from their homes. Continue reading
JNN 12 Sept 2012 : Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali says converting Shiite Muslims to the Sunni Islam followed by most Indonesians would be the best way to prevent violent outbreaks between the sects in Sampang, East Java. Continue reading
JNN 29 Aug 2012 Jakarta : Two Indonesian Shias were killed in the latest religious violence involving Shia community members and Wahabi group in Sampang regencyEast Java, on Sunday. Continue reading
JNN 16 June 2012 BAGHDAD, — Two car bomb explosions Martyred 32 Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad as millions of them attended Saturday the Death Anniversary of the Imam Musa Al Kadzim A.S at his shrine in the Iraqi capital amid tightened security measures. Continue reading
JNN 06 May 2012 Jakarta : The government will study anti-Shiite groups’ movements in the regions of West Java and East Java “very seriously”, a high-ranking official says. Continue reading
JNN 27 April 2012 Baghdad : Unknown people have attacked the offices of two of Iraq’s top four Shiite clerics in the central city of Najaf with sound bombs, a security official there said on Wednesday. Continue reading
JNN 27 April 2012 Baghdad : Unknown people have attacked the offices of two of Iraq’s top four Shiite clerics in the central city of Najaf with sound bombs, a security official there said on Wednesday. Continue reading
JNN 13 Mar 2012 Brussels : A man set fire to a mosque in Brussels on Monday, killing its 47-year-old Imam and injuring another in an arson attack that destroyed the Ground Floor , while the Second Floor of the Mosque was Partially burnt. Continue reading
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