MINORITY BASHING IN ARAB COUNTRIES

Minorities in most parts of the world are a suppressed lot. Be it in Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan minority bashing is a perennial problem eluding solutions. There is no point in singling out a particular country on the matter of suppression of minority.
Of late, Egypt’s Copt Christians who rose in revolt at Tahrir Square had to taste the bitter fruit at the hands of Egyptian authorities where registration for poll has already started. Tanks mowed down the revolting coptics in the process twenty four of them were crushed to death which sent shock waves around the world. Means, with Hosni Mubarak’s ouster Egypt has not returned to normality. We will have to wait for the completion of elections, after that only whether a return to normalcy could be expected or another round of flare-up is in the offing is to be expected.
Let’s take each nation one by one. First let it be Sudan, Africa’s largest country. Decades of rebellions and govt sponsored massacres of Animist Christians finally led to the division of the Muslim nation. The Christians at last succeeded in forcing the Sudanese authorities under Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir to cede the Southern part of Sudan to Christians almost one year back. Thus resulted in the formation of South Sudan which doesn’t mean that the problem has ended as territorial disputes still exist between the two nations as also the abundant crude oil wealth of South Sudan is still a bone of contention. What I was driving home is the decades old rivalries between the Animist Christians and majority Muslims resulted in the secession of the Africa’s largest nation – Sudan.
Even Saudi Arabia, the Sunni majority nation is not free from minority bashing. In the Kingdom, Al-Qatif, an area peopled by Shia Muslims are violently suppressed by the ruling authorities. It is widely known across the nations that Sunni’s and Shia’s are always at loggerheads.
Moreover Shia majority Iran, bête noire of Saudi Arabia’s the Sunni majority is providing necessary assistance to Shia’s at Al-Qatif.
Iran too is not free from minority bashing. In Iran the Christians and peace-loving Bahais are brutally dealt with and on a daily basis news of suppression and violent deaths are pouring out.
As long as minorities continue to seek refuge in these countries – they have nowhere to go – it is their fate to be subservient to the authorities and bear all kinds of cruelties at the hands of authorities.