Israel, Yemen, Kuwait or to Saudi Arabia. As you may know that the so-called Israeli democracy doesn't alow Arabs (making 20% of the population) proportionate representation in the Knesset. While Saudi Arabia has no parliament and the government of Bahrain, like that of Kuwait, is made of members from the same family, Al-Thani and Al-Sabah, respectively. It is a common practice for the American foreign policy to undermine democracies and to promote corrupt dictators and manipulated elections.
Adnan Darwash
Saudi Arabia: Dissident Writer Arrested
20 Apr 2011 20:55
Source: Content partner // Human Rights Watch
(Munich) - Saudi authorities have arrested over 160 peaceful dissidents in violation of international human rights law since February 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abd al-?Aziz Al Sa'ud, to order the immediate release of peaceful dissidents, including Nadhir al-Majid, a writer and teacher arrested on April 17.
Allies of Saudi Arabia have not publicly protested these serious and systematic violations. The European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said on April 18 that she had been "very pleased" with her two-day visit to Riyadh and made no public comments about the political prisoners. Neither Tom Donilon, the US national security adviser who visited Riyadh on April 13, nor Robert Gates, US defense secretary who visited on April 6, publicly commented on the kingdom's human rights violations.
"The EU's silence on the brazen arrest of a peaceful dissident on the first day of its chief foreign policy representative's visit looks like a pat on the back for an authoritarian state," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Silence when more than 160 peaceful dissidents are locked up should not be an option for Brussels or Washington."
Officials of the General Investigations Department (al-mabahith al-?amma), the domestic intelligence service, arrested al-Majid at his school in Khobar, in the Eastern Province. At the same time, mabahith officers searched his house in the presence of his wife and children, who said that officers confiscated al-Majid's personal belongings. Al-Majid had written an article entitled "I Protest, Therefore I Am" on April 2, in which he said that with the Saudi government's "call to stop demonstrations, we see history bypassing us, and this speaks volumes to the ingrained blindness in political vision, analysis, and consciousness."
Several user groups on Facebook had called for protests on a Saudi Day of Anger on March 11, but a heavy security presence prevented demonstrations in all but the Eastern Province. In Riyadh, Khalid al-Juhani, a Saudi citizen, appeared to be the sole person to brave the security presence to speak to assembled journalists. In an interview with the BBC, al-Juhani described how he lost his fear and despite knowing he would be arrested wanted to experience the freedom of speaking his mind. Al-Juhani's brother, Abdullah, told Human Rights Watch that mabahith officers arrested al-Juhani at his home later that day and that Interior Ministry officials told his family that he is being detained incommunicado in Riyadh's ?Ulaisha intelligence prison.
Protests in the Eastern Province continued on April 14 and 15 in Qatif and ?Awwamiyya, two predominantly Shia towns. The protesters, many of them women, held a candlelight vigil to demand the release of Shia detainees who have been imprisoned without charge or trial for 12 years and longer on suspicion of involvement in a 1996 bombing. The demonstrators also called for the release of over 120 detainees still being held for peaceful protests in Qatif and al-Ahsa' provinces since February. Only several dozen have been released, and none of those arrested have been charged with violence.
The Sa'ud family rules Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy - there are no national elections and no effective means of popular participation in decision making. In early March, the Interior Ministry and the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, the highest law-interpreting body, reiterated a ban on demonstrations. In February, mabahith officers arrested eight people who announced they were founding what they intended to be the kingdom's first political party, the Islamic Nation Party.
In March, several dozen women and some men protested once a week for three weeks in front of Interior Ministry headquarters in Riyadh for the release, or the speedy and fair trial, of their male relatives who have been detained, most of them without charge, for years in the country's intelligence prisons. The mabahith arrested several of the peaceful protesters.
Saudi authorities have also held a human rights activist, Shaikh Mikhlif bin Dahham al-Shammari, in Dammam central prison since June 2010 on the charge of "annoying others" over articles he wrote criticizing religious extremists and incompetent officials.
In 2009, Saudi Arabia acceded to the Arab Charter for Human Rights, which guarantees in article 32 the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The kingdom is one of few countries that have not yet signed the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
"As the list of Saudi political prisoners grows longer, the silence of the US and the EU becomes more deafening," Wilcke said.
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Bahrain abducts two senior clerics
Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:44PM
Bahraini riot policeBahraini forces have abducted two senior clerics as the government is putting more pressure to suffocate anti-regime protests.
The Saudi-backed Bahraini forces arrested clerics Sayyed Mohammad al-Alawi and Sheikh Abdul Adim al-Mohtadi in the capital Manama on Monday.
It comes after the Bahraini government dismissed 30 doctors and 150 health ministry workers for supporting anti-government protests, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Meanwhile, police stormed schools on Monday and arrested teachers ahead of a planned strike.
Earlier, Bahraini authorities expelled 16 Lebanese nationals from the country. The move came after the leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, voiced support for the Bahraini protesters.
Bahraini people have been demanding an end to the two-century-long rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty since February 14.
Scores of protesters have been killed and many others gone missing since the beginning of the revolution.
Bahraini forces have reinforced a massive armed crackdown on the uprising with the help of Saudi, the UAE and Kuwaiti troops.
US to proceed with Mideast arms sales
Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:51AM
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Deputy Director of the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Richard Genaille The Obama administration has decided to proceed with the sale of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in two of the largest-ever arms sales.
Deputy Director of the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Richard Genaille said on Monday that Saudi Arabia's $60 billion purchase of 84 new F-15 fighter jets, 190 helicopters and a wide array of missiles, bombs and delivery systems, as well as accessories such as night-vision goggles and radar warning systems have been approved and is proceeding without delay, Bloomberg reported.
The Pentagon official added that the purchase by the United Arab Emirates of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile systems, worth nearly 7 billion dollars, has also been cleared to proceed. The US Defense Department expects fiscal year 2011 arms exports to exceed $46 billion compared with about $37.9 billion in the previous fiscal year.
The report comes as Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have assisted Bahrain's Al Khalifa regime to reinforce its brutal crackdown against anti-government demonstrators.
“The Saudis are using American equipment: American tanks, American soldier carriers and they are also using the Apache helicopters, which are American,” a Bahraini opposition leader, Saeed al-Shahabi has told Press TV.
On Monday, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces arrested clerics Sayyed Mohammad al-Alawi and Sheikh Abdul Adim al-Mohtadi in the capital Manama.
It comes after the Bahraini government dismissed 30 doctors and 150 health ministry workers for supporting anti-government protests.
Saudi Arabia dispatched thousands of troops to neighboring Bahrain in mid-March to help quell month-old protest rallies seeking to break al-Khalifa dynasty's monopoly on power.
Saudi and other Arab rulers fear that any concession by Bahrain's rulers could embolden more protests against their own despotic rulers.
This is while the US military, which has its Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, has avoided describing the foreign troop intervention in the country as an invasion.
Bahraini demonstrators maintain that they will hold their ground until their demands for freedom, constitutional monarchy as well as a proportional voice in the government are met.
Scores of protesters have been killed and many others gone missing since the beginning of the Bahrain revolution.
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Top White House aide to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE
10 Apr 2011 17:10
Source: reuters // Reuters
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top national security aide will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this week, the White House said on Sunday, as popular unrest continues to unsettle the region.
Obama's national security adviser Tom Donilon will meet with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz in Riyadh and in Abu Dhabi he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahayan in a visit from April 11 to April 13.
"The national security advisor's visit underscores the importance of our relationship with these two key partners," the White House said in a statement.
Arab leaders allied to the United States have questioned its backing of pro-democracy movements, which have swept rulers from power in Egypt and Tunisia and continue to challenge other governments, including Saudi Arabia's neighbor Bahrain.
The United States is also part of a United Nations and Arab League-backed military campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to protect Libyan civilians after a popular uprising to end his 41-year rule. (Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Eric Beech)
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Saudi unemployed graduates protest, demand jobs10 Apr 2011 12:00
Source: reuters // Reuters
* University graduates rally in Jeddah, Riyadh
* Protesters vow to return if no solution to unemployment
By Asma Alsharif and Jason Benham
JEDDAH/RIYADH, April 10 (Reuters) - Dozens of unemployed university graduates and teachers staged rare protests in two Saudi cities on Sunday to demand jobs and better wages in the biggest Arab economy, which is struggling to reduce joblessness.
Saudi Arabia, the world's No. 1 oil exporter and a U.S. ally, is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate public dissent. There is no elected parliament or political parties, and newspapers tend to carry the official line.
Over 20 protesters gathered outside the education ministry office in Jeddah while around 20 collected outside the ministry in the capital Riyadh, witnesses and participants said.
"God willing, I'll be here until Friday if I have to. We don't care anymore after seven years of unemployment. We have no other choice," said Omar Alharbi, a 34-year-old Arabic language teacher who took part in the Jeddah protest.
"I plan to stay here until we find a solution," he said.
The father of six now works as a teacher in a private school making only 1,800 riyals ($480) a month, below the country's unemployment handout of 2,000 riyals.
Despite its oil wealth, Saudi Arabia, which is rolling out its third straight record budget this year, is struggling to reduce unemployment which reached 10 percent in 2010.
In a move to stave off public dissent gripping much of the Arab world, King Abdullah ordered handouts exceeding $100 billion to be spent on housing, infrastructure, health care and security. It also included a 2,000 riyal unemployment benefit.
Saudis in private firms compete with foreigners who agree to work for lower wages. Teachers are offered 1,800 riyals a month in a private school for a job that pays around 9,000 riyals a month in government schools, protesters said.
Some of the protesters said they had been unemployed since 2003. They estimated the number of unemployed Saudi Arabic language teachers to exceed 10,000.
Saudi Arabia has not seen the kind of mass uprisings that have rocked the Arab world this year, but a number of protests have taken place in the Eastern Province, where most of the kingdom's oil fields are.
Almost no Saudis in major cities answered a Facebook call for protest on March 11, in the face of a massive security presence around the country.
Earlier this year, some 250 unemployed graduates gathered at the education ministry in Riyadh to demand employment and vowed to continue demonstrating until the government produces jobs.
The group later dispersed after hearing promises from ministry officials saying they will deal with their issue.
"We expect to hear promises to calm us down and disperse us but we will be back. We will be back until they find a solution," Alharbi said.
===
Poll: Saudi Kingdom will collapse
Sat Apr 2, 2011 9:45AM
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Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-AzizA Press TV survey reveals that almost half of the public think the brutal crackdown and tight security measures in Saudi Arabia will not safeguard the Kingdom against collapse.
According to the public opinion poll, some 51.6 percent of people think that crackdown will result in a massive bloodshed and the collapse of the Saudi kingdom.
The poll indicates that 13.04 percent of people believe that the issue will only result in massive bloodshed, while another 18 percent said the strict security measures will just not be enough to save the kingdom from falling.
An estimated 17.36 percent of the voters went for the choice that said the crackdown will eventually discourage the public in its revolutionary drive.
The survey also found that the voters from the United States topped the list of participants by 26.3 percent of the votes, while 11.4 percent were from the United Kingdom.
Voters from Canada made 6.3 percent, along with Australians and the Dutch, with 2.6 and 1.6 percent respectively.
Some 51.8 percent of the votes were also from other countries.
The poll was conducted while hundreds of people have recently protested peacefully in Saudi Arabia, calling on the country's military to end its incursion into Bahrain.
Moreover, hundreds of anti-government Saudi protesters took to the streets in Qatif and surrounding villages in eastern Saudi Arabia on March 25, demanding the immediate release of what they called forgotten political prisoners. The protesters said the prisoners were being held unjustly and without trial, some as long as 16 years.
Demonstrators also called for political freedoms and an end to sectarian discrimination by the Wahhabi monarchy.
==
Saudi prints 1.5 million copies of anti-demo edict29 Mar 2011 11:07
Source: reuters // Reuters
* Additional printing on top of 500,000 already ordered
* Fatwa calls for unity, cohesion
JEDDAH, March 29 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is printing 1.5 million copies of an edict by religious scholars outlawing protests in the conservative kingdom as un-Islamic, the state news agency said on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and major U.S. ally, is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate any form of public dissent.
It managed to stifle an attempt to stage a mass protest on March 11 with a large security presence on the streets.
Religious scholars issued their fatwa, or religious edict, and senior princes issued warnings in advance.
"The Grand Mufti requested that a number of government and private firms print and distribute more than a million copies," SPA said, adding that 500,000 copies already had been printed.
SPA said the fatwa "called for strengthening cohesion and affinity" and called on the Saudi people to "have a united front... under its wise and legitimate leadership, warning (against) and forbidding demonstrations".
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh heads the clerics council and is the country's highest religious official.
The Saudi royal family dominates politics but accords the class of religious scholars wide powers of control over society in a historic pact. The vast desert nation has a population of over 18 million Saudi nationals.
Mass protests which toppled longstanding leaders in Egypt and Tunisia have spread to the Arabian Peninsula, affecting Bahrain and Yemen and to a lesser extent Oman and Kuwait.
Web activists had slated March 11 as the first day for mass protests in Saudi Arabia, calling for reforms, a fair distribution of wealth and a "constitutional monarchy".
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Michael Roddy)
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Saudi king orders billions of dollars in handouts
18 Mar 2011 11:43
Source: reuters // Reuters
RIYADH, March 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Friday ordered the handout of billions of dollars in benefits to Saudi citizens and created more domestic security jobs in an attempt to insulate the top oil exporter from regional unrest.
The king made a brief statement congratulating Saudis for their loyalty, national unity and facing the enemies of religion before his decrees were read out live on Saudi television.
The benefits range from monthly payouts for the unemployed to building 500,000 new homes and spending on healthcare.
In addition, the king ordered the creation of 60,000 new security jobs within the interior ministry. As well, the king decreed that media must respect clerics or face penalties.
Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:44PM
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Beggars on Saudi Arabia's streets Saudi Arabian Mufti Sheikh Yusof al-Ahmad has warned that unless the government fights poverty and unemployment, it will face a revolution like those in Egypt and Tunisia.
In a video published on the internet, al-Ahmad says due to the poverty rate of 22 percent, the recent popular uprisings in the Arab world will permeate into Saudi Arabia.
Last year, the floods in Jeddah -- Saudi Arabia's second largest city -- resulted in the deaths of tens of people and homelessness of thousands and sparked public anger, al-Arab newspaper quoted the Mufti as saying on Monday.
The way people express their anger has changed in an unprecedented way, due to the injustice and the feeling of being oppressed, he added.
Al-Ahmad criticized the Saudi government for allocating 112 billion Saudi rials (USD 29.8 billion) to King Abdullah University and 72 billion Saudi rials to Princess Noura University in Riyadh, saying such budget was enough to build 72 universities and create 300,000 jobs for the citizens.
Al-Ahmad said supervision over public assets was necessary to prevent overspending.
In 2009, the Saudi Arabian members of parliament announced that in spite of the kingdom's three-year plan for fighting poverty, around 22 percent of the people live below the poverty line.
Saudi Arabia's official figures put the country's unemployment rate at 10.5 percent, while according to the unofficial figures, joblessness stands around 20 percent.
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پاکستان میں آلِ سعود کا دفاع
ریاض سہیل
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، کراچی
’مشرق وسطیٰ میں موجود سیاسی ہلچل اور سعودی عرب اور ایران میں کشیدگی سے پاکستان میں فرقہ واریت میں مزید اضافہ ہوگا‘
سعودی عرب میں سعود خاندان کے خلاف عوام کے احتجاج کے بعد پاکستان میں دیوبند مکتبِ فکر کی مذہبی جماعتیں اور علماء سعودی شاہی خاندان کے دفاع کے لیے میدان میں آگئے ہیں۔
ادھر کراچی شہر میں بعض مذہبی جماعتوں کی جانب سے بحرین اور سعودی عرب کے عوام کے حق میں وال چاکنگ بھی کی گئی ہے۔
کراچی کی مرکزی شاہراہ ایم اے جناح روڈ پر یہ وال چاکنگ نمایاں نظر آتی ہے جس میں سعود خاندان اور عرب افواج پر تنقید بھی کی گئی ہے اور لوگوں پر ’ظلم بند‘ کرنے کو کہا گیا ہے۔
اس سے قبل شیعہ علماء کونسل کی جانب سے بحرین، لیبیا، یمن اور مشرق وسطیٰ کی عوام سے یکہجتی کے اظہار کے لیے ریلی بھی نکالی گئی تھی۔
جمعہ کو مجلس وحدت مسلمین کے رہنما محمد مھدی نے ایک بیان میں کہا کہ مشرق وسطی انقلاب کا خواہشمند ہے اور وہ وہاں موجود ڈکٹیٹرشپ کے خلاف ہے اور موجودہ لہر اسلامی مشرق وسطی کی جانب ایک قدم ہے۔
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ مشرق وسطی میں سعودی عرب کا کردار مشکوک ہے۔ ’عوامی اسلامی بیداری اس بات کا ثبوت ہے کہ ساٹھ سال قبل امریکہ اور اسرائیل نے وہاں ڈکٹیٹروں کو اقتدار بخشا جو ان کے احکامات کے طابع ہیں۔‘
محمد مھدی کا کہنا تھا کہ اگر سعودی عرب حقیقی اسلامی ریاست ہے تو پھر بیت المقدس کی آزادی کے لیے اپنا کردار ادا کیوں نہیں کرتا۔
یاد رہے تین روز قبل شہر کے بڑے مدرسوں جامعہ بنوریہ، جامعہ فاروقیہ، جامعہ رشیدیہ، جمعیت علمائے اسلام فضل الرحمان، اور جمعیت علمائے اسلام سمیع الحق گروپ سمیت دیگر مذہبی جماعتوں کے ایک مشترکہ اجلاس میں سعودی حکمرانوں کے خلاف چاکنگ پر ناراضی کا اظہار کیا تھا اور سندھ کے گورنر ڈاکٹر عشرت العباد کو بھی اس سے آگاہ کیا گیا تھا۔
ایران اور سعودی عرب کی نظریاتی لڑائی پاکستان میں بھی پھیلی ہوئی ہے جس کے لیے دونوں ملکوں سے پیسہ آرہا ہے
صحافی خالد احمد
شہر کی بعض مساجد میں نمازِ جمعہ کے خطبوں میں سعودی عرب کے شاہی خاندان سے یکجہتی کا اظہار کیا گیا۔ جامعہ بنوریہ عالمیہ کے مفتی نعیم نے خطیبوں سے اپیل کی تھی کہ وہ خطبوں میں سعودی حکومت کی جانب سے دنیا بھر کے حجاج وعمرہ زائرین کی خدمات اوران کی سہولت کے لیے کی جانے والی کوششوں کو موضوع بنائیں اور تحفظ حرمین شریفین کےلیے خصوصی دعاؤں کا اہتمام کریں۔
مفتی نعیم کا کہنا تھا کہ پاکستان کے قیام سے لیکر آج تک سعودی حکمران ہی ہیں جنہوں نے ہرمشکل وقت میں پاکستانی عوام کاساتھ دیا لیکن اب تیونس، مصر، لیبیا، یمن، بحرین ودیگراسلامی ممالک کے حالات سے فائدہ اٹھاکر مغرب کے پیروکار اسلام کے روحانی مرکز کے خلاف بھی سازشوں میں مصروف ہوگئے ہیں۔
پاکستانی شہریوں کی ایک بڑی تعداد سعودی عرب میں ملازمت کرتی ہے اور ہر ماہ وہاں سے ایک خطیر رقم پاکستان منتقل ہوتی ہے۔ مفتی نعیم کا کہنا تھا کہ سعودی حکومت اس معاملے کو جواز بنا کر جو پاکستانی شہری وہاں کام کرتے ہیں انہیں بے دخل کرسکتی ہے۔
گزشتہ ماہ امریکی اہلکار ریمنڈ ڈیوس کی رہائی میں سعودی عرب کا کردار بھی زیر بحث آیا تھا۔ مسلم لیگ نون کا کہنا تھا کہ اس رہائی میں سعودی عرب نے کردار ادا کیا مگر مذہبی جماعتیں اس کو ماننے کے لیے تیار نہیں ہیں۔
جمعیت علمائے اسلام فضل الرحمان گروپ کے رہنما قاری عثمان کا کہنا تھا کہ سعودی عرب میں جو معاملات چل رہے ہیں وہ ان کا اندرونی معاملہ ہے۔ ’تمام جماعتوں کو جمع ہوکر یہ طے کرنا چاہیے کہ وہ بیرونی مداخلت کے بجائے اپنے شہر اور ملک کے مسائل پر بات کریں اور ایک دوسرے کے ساتھ دست وگریباں نہ ہوں۔’ اس عمل سے کسی اور کی خدمت ہوسکتی ہے مگر اسے اسلام کی خدمت نہیں کہا جاسکتا۔‘
’اگر یورپ اور امریکہ کے ایما پر سعودی عرب میں کوئی تحریک چلتی ہے تو اس کا خاتمہ ہونا چاہیے‘
کالعدم تنظیم جماعت الدعوۃ بھی سعودی حکمرانوں سے یکہجتی کے لیے ہر کردار ادا کرنے کو تیار ہے۔ ’تنظیم کے رہنما مولانا محمودالحسن کا کہنا تھا کہ سعودی حکومت دوسرے اسلامی ممالک سے مخلتف ہے۔ وہاں اسلامی نظام نافذ ہے اور اسی کے تحت فیصلے ہوتے ہیں۔‘
’سعوی عرب کے حکمرانوں کے خلاف اگر کوئی بینر اور وال چاکنگ کر ہے ہیں تو یہ وہ ہی عناصر ہیں جن کو سعودی عرب کے اندر سکون اور امن گوارہ نہیں۔ حکومت اور عوام سعودی عرب کا ہر اعتبار سے ساتھ دے۔ اگر یورپ اور امریکہ کے ایما پر وہاں کوئی تحریک کھڑی ہوتی ہے تو اس کا خاتمہ ہونا چاہیے۔‘
مولانا محمودالحسن کا کہنا ہے کہ یہ ان لوگوں کی سازش ہے جنہیں سعودی عرب میں پلنے بڑھنے کی اجازت نہیں دی گئی کیونکہ وہاں شرک کے اڈے اور مزار بنانے نہیں دیے جاتے ۔ صرف ان لوگوں کو ہی زیادہ تکلیف ہے ۔اب یہ چاہتے ہیں موقعہ آگیا ہے کہ وہ غصہ نکالیں مگر جماعت الدعوہ ہر لحاظ سے سعودی عرب کے ساتھ ہے اگر ضرورت پڑی تو ریلیاں اور جلوس بھی نکالیں گے۔
پاکستان میں مدارس کی ایک بڑی تعداد کو سعودی عرب حکومت کی جانب سے عطیات دیے جاتے ہیں، جن سے طلبہ کو مفت تعلیم اور کھانے پینے کی سہولت فراہم کی جاتی ہے۔
سعوی عرب کے حکمرانوں کے خلاف اگر کوئی بینر اور وال چاکنگ کر ہے ہیں تو یہ وہ ہی عناصر ہیں جن کو سعودی عرب کے اندر سکون اور امن گوارہ نہیں۔ حکومت اور عوام سعودی عرب کا ہر اعتبار سے ساتھ دے۔ اگر یورپ اور امریکہ کے ایما پر وہاں کوئی تحریک کھڑی ہوتی ہے تو اس کا خاتمہ ہونا چاہیے۔
جماعت الدعوۃ
تجزیہ نگار اور صحافی خالد احمد کا کہنا ہے کہ کراچی میں دو جماعتیں ہیں ایک دیوبندی حضرات جو عربوں سے کافی مدد لیتے ہیں اور تمام ہی مدرسوں کو وہاں سے پیسے بھی آتے رہے ہیں دوسرے شیعہ مسلمان جن کی سرگرمیاں مخفی ہیں۔
ان کے مطابق جب ایران میں خامنہ ای اقتدار میں آئے تو سعودی عرب خوفزدہ ہوا یہ سلسلہ وہاں سے شروع ہوا۔ انیس سو اسی میں جنرل ضیاالحق نے سعودی عرب کے کہنے پر زکوۃ و عشر کا نظام نافذ کیا جس پر شیعہ مسلمانوں نے بغاوت کی۔
خالد احمد کا کہنا ہے کہ ایران اور سعودی عرب کی نظریاتی لڑائی پاکستان میں بھی پھیلی ہوئی ہے جس کے لیے دونوں ملکوں سے پیسہ آرہا ہے۔
بعض مبصرین کا کہنا ہے کہ مشرق وسطیٰ میں موجود سیاسی ہلچل اور سعودی عرب اور ایران میں کشیدگی سے پاکستان میں فرقہ واریت میں مزید اضافہ ہوسکتا ہے۔
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Saudi women hold protestsSun Apr 24, 2011 2:9PM
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Saudi women gather outside the voter registration center in the western city of Jeddah on April 23, 2011.A group of Saudi Arabian women have reportedly attempted to register for the kingdom's upcoming municipal elections, despite Riyadh's prohibition on female participation in the event.
The females had showed up to register with a related office in the western city of Jeddah on Sunday, AFP reported.
Scheduled for September 22, the polls form the kingdom's only public electoral event.
The protesters said they wanted their voices to be heard and decried exclusion from the public life.
The women's applications, however, where swiftly turned down.
Police dispersed a similar protest in the Eastern Province and rounded up two women.
Saudi women are deprived of a choice in marriage, divorce and children's custody. They are also not allowed to drive.
The females are dictated to and guarded by male relatives and cannot travel without the consent of a male guardian.
The Sunday protest came amid demonstrations across the kingdom by the jobless, demanding their share of the country's oil-driven economy and protests against Saudi Arabia's move to deploy troops in Bahrain to crack down on anti-government protesters there.
The protests rage despite a ban by the Interior Ministry on all kinds of demonstrations and public gatherings.
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Sunday May 22, 201102:32 AM GMT
Saudi woman arrested for driving a car
Sun May 22, 2011 2:33AM
A photo of Saudi campaigner Manal al-Sherif posted on Saudiwoman's Weblog
The Saudi Arabian authorities have detained a woman for defying the country's ban on female drivers and making efforts to embolden other women to follow suit.
The kingdom's religious police arrested Manal al-Sherif on Saturday after she challenged the ban by posting a video on Facebook and YouTube showing her behind the wheel of a car in the eastern city of Khobar, the Associated Press reported.
On their Facebook page, called “Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself,” Sherif and a group of other women have launched a volunteer campaign with the aim of convincing the authorities to lift the prohibition.
Sherif was released a few hours later, according to the campaign's Twitter account, but the terms of her release were not immediately known.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to ban women -- both Saudi and foreign -- from driving. Women are also barred from voting, except for chamber of commerce elections in two cities in recent years, while no woman can become a cabinet member.
Sherif and the other campaigners have focused on the importance of women driving in times of emergencies and the high expense of hiring a driver, especially for low-income families.
The women's Facebook campaign is calling for a mass women's drive on June 17, and more than 12,000 people who viewed the page have indicated they support the call.
On their page, the group says women joining the campaign should not challenge the authorities if they are stopped and questioned and should abide by the country's dress code.
“We want to live as complete citizens, without the humiliation that we are subjected to every day because we are tied to a driver,” the Facebook message reads. “We are not here to break the law or demonstrate or challenge the authorities, we are here to claim one of our simplest rights.”
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FEATURE-Saudi women take to their cars hoping for change
09 Jun 2011 08:00
Source: reuters // Reuters
* No written ban on women driving in kingdom
* Manal Alsharif posted YouTube video of herself driving
By Asma Alsharif and Jason Benham
JEDDAH/RIYADH, June 9 (Reuters) - Fed up with having no driver to ferry her to hospital, Shaima Osama decided to take matters into her own hands and drive there herself, an act of defiance in a country where women are banned from sitting behind the wheel.
Emboldened by the winds of change sweeping the Arab world, which has toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, women in the conservative kingdom see no better time to seek greater freedoms by demanding the right to drive, something they would not have dreamed of doing a year ago.
"I learned that there is no law banning women driving. I took the keys, took a deep breath and started the car," Osama described how she drove in Jeddah last month.
Saudi Arabia has no written ban on women driving but Saudi law requires citizens to use a locally issued licence while in the country. Such licenses are not issued to women, making it effectively illegal for them to drive.
Thousands of Saudi men and women joined Facebook groups calling for women's right to drive and challenge the ban. But only a few, like Osama, turned those calls into action.
Osama, 33, who has a severe vitamin D deficiency, drove herself to the hospital, received her vitamin injection but was stopped and arrested by police on her way home. She was released just hours later.
She took to the wheel just days before Saudi authorities arrested another woman, Manal Alsharif, who posted a YouTube video of herself driving in the kingdom's Eastern Province and calling on other women to do the same. [ID:nLDE74N0ET]
Alsharif has been released but faces charges of "besmirching the kingdom's reputation abroad and stirring up public opinion."
Like Alsharif, Osama learned to drive in the United States.
"The issue of women not being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia has been in the public domain for more than 35 years," said Khaled al-Dakhil, a Saudi politics professor.
"This is not the first time women had driven cars but you could say that the revolutionary wave has added to momentum and added a new context."
Women also drove cars in 1990, but the government cracked down, arresting and firing from their jobs, an indication of what the authorities may do if more women follow in Osama and Alsharif's footsteps.
The issue has also been raised by King Abdullah, who in an interview in 2005 said it was only a matter of time before women drive in the kingdom but that people have to be ready for it.
Some women already drive in rural areas in the kingdom.
OPPOSITION
The two women and Facebook book groups are provoking a backlash from conservatives who oppose the idea of women seeking greater freedoms in a country where they must have written approval from a designated male guardian -- a father, husband, brother, or son -- to work, travel abroad and even undergo certain forms of surgery.
Conservatives have launched their own Facebook campaign calling on people to beat up any woman who tries to drive in the street. It has attracted more than 500 supporters.
Some 1,000 women have submitted a petition to King Abdullah supporting the ban against women driving, local media reported.
Saudi Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obaikan, an adviser to the Royal Court, voiced his opposition while clerics have said that women driving would result in them being harassed in the street.
But the reasons appear to have more to do with religion.
"The religious establishment are trying to wrap the issue in the "sharia cloth" but they know that if women are allowed to drive it is a big change and a change in a direction they hate," Dakhil said. "The religious establishment are scared that society is changing faster that it should and that the revolutionary wave is driving this."
Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, has not seen the protests that have rocked much of the Arab world and Abdullah ordered handouts exceeding $100 billion earlier this year to discourage dissent.
"It was a good time for the regime to give concessions but they did not," said Mohammad al-Qahtani, head of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association.
"They can either allow women to drive or there will be more public resentment and there could be public protests in the street if this continues."
But allowing women to drive would also ease the financial burden on households and on the kingdom and would help reduce the kingdom's dependence on millions of foreigners who work as drivers.
Many families in Saudi Arabia have at least one driver with an average salary of around 2,000 Saudi riyals ($533) per month. Those who cannot afford this have a male member of family to drive them, often making it a time-consuming burden.
"I do agree with women driving. It would ease costs but there need to be some rules," said student Talal al-Hussain.
"Women shouldn't drive from 18 years of age like we do, but from their early thirties when they can look after themselves better," he said.
Whether protesting in the street or not, Alsharif has launched a campaign to challenge the ban aimed at teaching women to drive and encouraging them to start driving from June 17, using foreign-issued licenses.
Some women activists say the government's tough stance on Alsharif will deter many women from acting that day.
"What I project to happen is that these terrorising tactics will minimize the bold activists to a manageable number so that the government is capable of dismantling any and all protests in the first 15 minutes," said female activist Lama Sadik.
Mohammad al-Zulfa, a former member of the advisory shuran council said he hoped the government would react "wisely" and make an announcement allowing women to drive.
"Maybe not now, but in one or two years time, allowing society to be ready for it," he said. ($1=3.750 Saudi Arabian Riyal) (Editing by Reed Stevenson)
==
Saudi alarmed by high domestic oil demand
Official report warns local supply may not be enough in 2030
Saudi Arabia is consuming up nearly a third of its crude oil output and supply could fail to meet domestic demand in 2030 if the high consumption trends are maintained, according to a government report.
The Gulf kingdom, the world's top oil exporter and largest Arab economy, currently produces nearly 8.5 million barrels per day of crude but local demand is as high as 2.5-3.4 million bpd, mostly used in power generation, said the report by the state-controlled Saudi Electricity CompanySaudi Electricity Company (SECSEC).
The report suggested banning work of major shopping outlets during the afternoon period until 7.00 pm and limiting work periods for government departments to between 6.00 am to 12.00 noon in summer to save energy.
"The current oil production levels of around 8.5 million bpd will not be enough to meet domestic demand in 2030 if the current growth in local consumption continues," said Abdul Salam Alyamani, SEC'sSEC's vice president for relations."These high growth rates constitute a major challenge to Saudi Arabia in the long term as it relies on oil exports to provide nearly 80 per cent of its income."
Alyamani, quoted by local newspapers, warned against "ignoring repeated government calls for cutting power and water consumption."
He said solar energy remains a key option for Saudi Arabia to meet the rapid and steady increase in its power needs and lessen dependence on oil. He noted that the government has already drawn up plans to expand its electricity production by 3,000-4,000 MW annually, adding that Saudi Arabia would get around 1,200 MW through a $1.5-billion common power grid linking it with nearby Gulf countries--UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
Alyamani said the Saudi government is spending nearly SR50 billion ($13 billion) a year to subsidize power and water consumption for citizens. Saudi Arabia controls around 266 billion barrels of proven oil resources, more than a fifth of the world's total crude deposits.
It has just completed a major programme to expand its sustainable oil output capacity to over 12 million bpd and intends to push ahead with projects to lift capacity to 15 million bpd in the next years.But the government has also been locked in another major plan to boost its natural gas reserves to meet rising demand and offset oil consumption.
Besides oil and gas, Riyadh has plans to develop solar energy and build 16 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years at a cost of more than $300bn. According to Abdul Ghani bin Melaibari, coordinator of scientific collaboration at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, Saudi Arabia is in the stage of planning for the nuclear projects and coordination with specialised companies was currently under way. He said companies from any country could bid for the projects, the largest in the Middle East.
"After 10 years we will have the first two reactors. After that, every year we will establish two, until we have 16 of them by 2030," he said. Melaibari said the nuclear reactors would cover about 20 percent of the Kingdom's needs for electricity, adding that the kingdom would launch a 20-year plan this year to introduce renewable clean energy.
© Emirates 24|7 2011
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20110619032525/Saudi_alarmed_by_high_domestic_oil_demand
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Saudi women, allies accelerate driving campaign
01 Jul 2011 02:33
Source: Content partner // Marley Gibbons//Womensenews
Female driver Azza Al Shmasani displays a note, which according to her, was placed on her car by an unknown person, in Saudi Arabia June 22, 2011. Saudi Arabia has no formal ban on women driving. But as citizens must use only Saudi-issued licences in the country, and as these are issued only to men, women drivers are anathema.(One that is cursed or damned.) An outcry at the segregation, which contributes to the general cloistering of Saudi women, has been fuelled by social media interest in two would-be female motorists arrested in May. REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed
By Marley Gibbons
WeNews correspondent
(WOMENSENEWS) June 30, 2011--Five Saudi women who defied religious traditions by driving this week were detained by police in Jeddah on June 28, marking what may be a shift to harsher tactics by authorities who largely shrugged off the June 17 start of the driving campaign.
On June 29, it was not publicly known whether the women were still in police custody, according to news sources in Saudi Arabia.
News of all this was distributed via e-mail by Change.org, a politically progressive grassroots organization. Using social media to mobilize supporters, Change.org tabulates figures, issues press statements and rallies media attention for the Saudi women's right-to-drive campaign.
It works side by side with other efforts--such as the Boston-based Honk for Saudi Women Driving--to keep the issue in the media headlights.
Change.org--with offices in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and New York City-- estimates that 50 Saudi women risked jail on June 17 by driving. The group claims that more than 100,000 people in 156 countries supported Women for Driving in Saudi Arabia, a coalition of Saudi women's rights activists, via social networks.
A big reason for Change.org's dedication to the Saudi women's driving push is Benjamin Joffe-Walt, the group's human rights editor. He made contacts with female activists in Saudi Arabia in 2009 when he was covering human rights as a journalist.
In a recent phone interview, Joffe-Walt said that when he caught wind of Saudi women organizing for the right to drive in May, he saw an opportunity for Change.org to help by harnessing international media attention.
For that, Eman Al-Nafjan, a pro-driving activist who authors Saudiwomen blog, expresses deep appreciation.
"The way I see it is that as a Saudi woman, if some one is going to support my human right . . . I'm going to say a big fat 'thank you,'" she said in a phone interview with Women's eNews. "Drawing attention to the campaign outside of Saudi Arabia . . . will keep it an issue inside of Saudi Arabia."
On the heels of the June 17 event, Joffe-Walt told Women's eNews his top concern was sustaining international attention and interest.
One sign of that came on June 22, when Change.org launched a petition campaign to pressure Subaru, the Japan based automaker, to stop selling cars in the kingdom until women are allowed to drive. The site claims that more than 50,000 people have signed on.
"I'm not sure who will be courageous enough to get behind the wheel and deliver the petition to Subaru," Sara al-Haidar, an activist and student in Saudi Arabia, said in a phone interview. The threat of arrest is still very real for women involved in the campaign, she added.
Clinton, Ashton Voice Support
Saudi Women for Driving has earned statements of support from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton, news sources reported.
The driving campaign is the leading edge of a wider push for autonomy and citizenship. Saudi women must be accompanied in public by a male relative, may not dine alone in restaurants and have fewer educational opportunities. They do not have the right to vote in all elections and they can't travel outside Saudi Arabia without a male relative as a companion. Many work outside the home, but a driver's weekly salary--of $300 or so--eats up their income.
Many Saudi activists see driving rights as an essential stepping stone towards future progress. "I can't say I want a woman minister, I can't say I want to see democracy . . . I can't say all of these things without being able to drive a car," Eman al-Nafjan, said in a phone interview.
No Saudi law explicitly bans Saudi women from driving. It is part of a religious edict issued by the Islamic council that advises King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
"This won't be resolved until the King says so," said al-Nafjan.
Abdullah al- Alami, a Saudi writer and economist, said in an e-mail that he is encouraging an advisory group to the king to consider women's right to drive. But he said any change must come from within. "I do not encourage getting outside groups involved in our internal affairs."
Facebook Friends
Boston free-lance journalist and activist Trisha Calvarese says she was drawn to the cause while covering the Middle East. "I literally just made some friends on Facebook," she said in a phone interview.
Calvarese launched a solidarity effort a few months ago -- Honk for Saudi Women Driving--that calls on women around the world to post YouTube videos of themselves honking car horns in support.
After she posted a few "Honk" videos, a supporter from France offered to help. He and his team at Kinomap, a video-sharing platform site based in Douai, France, developed a smartphone application that supporters could use to upload "honk" videos to the "Honk for Saudi Women Driving" YouTube channel.
The channel's roughly 50 videos so far include a dozen that Saudi women shot of themselves driving on June 17 and since then. Others come from supporters in Australia, Sweden and England.
Saudi women have conducted right-to-drive demonstrations before. Joffe-Walt recalled an occasion in 1990 when 47 women drove cars around Riyadh for a half hour. The drivers and their husbands were banned from leaving the country for a year and those with government jobs were suspended from working, NPR reported. In 2008, a now well-known Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al Huwaider posted a YouTube of herself driving in the suburbs of Riyadh, said the AFP.
May 22 Arrest
The latest effort began on May 22, when Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old single mother and computer technician working for an oil company, was arrested and detained in Riyadh, for posting videos of herself driving on YouTube.
These efforts got the most media attention globally, Joffe-Walt said, because campaigners turned to the Internet to spread information.
Given the distinctive restrictions on Saudi women, many activists decline to link women driving efforts to current revolutionary movements in the region. But no women were jailed for driving on June 17 and some activists say regional politics may help explain the government's initially tolerant response.
One Saudi woman who drove with her mother for about 15 minutes during a rush hour demonstration on June 22, told Women's eNews in a phone interview that police actually protected them from the hostility of some male drivers.
Until now, the mild official response could mean King Abdullah is biding his time and seeing how it plays out in the international community as well as in the Saudi religious establishment, said Joffe-Walt.
But the arrests of the five drivers this week heightens the suspense about how the kingdom will react.
After her release from jail on May 3, al-Sharif's lawyer Adan al-Salah, said she voluntarily signed a pledge to end her Women2Drive campaign, which designated June 17 as the women's day of driving. But Wajeha al-Huwaider, her close friend, told the Guardian she was "certain" silence was a condition of her release from nine days in prison.
Human Rights Watch reported May 22 that al-Sharif's YouTube videos of herself driving had been removed from the Web and her phone, according to several news sources, had been turned off.
Al-Sharif's video was preserved by anonymous supporters and can be found online
Read the original story here.
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Q&A on Saudi Shi'ites protests in oil province
04 Oct 2011 18:45
Source: Reuters // Reuters
Oct 4 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that clashes on Monday night that injured 14 people including 11 policemen in its oil-rich Eastern province, home to a large Shi'ite population, were the work of an unnamed foreign power, usually code for its rival Iran.
Saudi Arabia applies the Wahhabi austere version of Sunni Islam, and minority Shi'ites say that, while their situation has improved slightly under reforms launched by King Abdullah, they still face many restrictions and discrimination. The government denies these charges.
WHAT DO SAUDI SHI'ITES DEMAND?
Shi'ites have long complained of second class status in the absolute monarchy. They also want the release of Shi'ite prisoners, some of whom were arrested during previous protests.
Shi'ites, who make up to 15 percent of the 19 million Saudi population, say they are not represented in the cabinet, they struggle to land senior government and security jobs and are viewed as heretics or even agents of Iran by the Saudi authorities and hardline Sunni clerics.
Despite being home to most of Saudi Arabia's oil wealth, the Eastern Province is less affluent than the capital Riyadh or other Saudi cities. The government has announced investments in the Shi'ite main Gulf coast stronghold of Qatif, but Shi'ites say their villages are underdeveloped and neglected.
Under reforms started by King Abdullah, Shi'ites say they can now practice their faith relatively freely in Qatif but want recognition and equal benefits enjoyed by Sunni counterparts.
In petitions and meetings with top officials, Shi'ites have demanded for years to open mosques and worship places outside Qatif. The port city of Dammam has only one Shi'ite mosque and nearby Khobar none despite many Shi'ites living there.
Authorities have closed at least nine places of worship in Khobar and the Ahsa region, the U.S. government said in a report in November. Shi'ite activists say authorities have signalled since protests started that places of worship in Khobar might be allowed but caution that similar promises were made in the past.
CAN SHI'ITES PROTESTS GET LARGER?
It was not clear how many people were involved in the new clashes. Protests in March drew up to about 200 people each time.
Moderate Shi'ite leaders say they struggle to restrain frustrated young people emboldened by protests of their brethern against the Sunni Al Khalifa ruling family in nearby Bahrain.
But protests have been smaller and more peaceful than in 2009 when hundreds of Shi'ites clashed with police after firebrand preacher Nimr al-Nimr broke a taboo by suggesting that Shi'ites could one day seek their own state -- a call heard only rarely since the 1979 Iranian revolution, which stirred unrest among Saudi Shi'ites.
Shi'ite leaders who went into exile after the 1979 protests returned in the 1990s under a deal with the government.
But Iran's rising influence, especially since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which empowered that country's Shi'ite majority, has also revived official fears that Shi'ites could become a fifth column against the Saudi state.
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF PROTESTS AFFECTING OIL FACILITIES?
Many Shi'ites in the eastern province work in the oil industry, especially at state giant Saudi Aramco so they have no interest in disrupting oil flows and their livelihood. Their conditions are better than Shi'ites in Bahrain or Iraq as they still benefit from a welfare state though complain they get less than Sunnis. An estimated 10,000 Shi'ites study abroad on government grants.
HOW MANY SHI'ITES LIVE IN SAUDI ARABIA?
There are no official figures. Government officials say less than 10 percent of Saudis are Shi'ites but human rights activists and diplomats put it between 12 and 15 percent.
Most Shi'ites live in the east near Bahrain, where Shi'ites challenge the Sunni government but there are also Shi'ites living in the holy city of Medina and some in Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia.
Shi'ites of the Ismaili sect are in the majority in Najran near the Yemen border, where no protests have been reported yet. Their community leaders say they face restrictions in getting senior state jobs but authorities have reached out more to them to win their loyalty in the volatile Yemen border region.
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Saudi Prince Turki urges nuclear option after Iran
06 Dec 2011 15:58
RIYADH, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, voicing alarm about Iran's nuclear programme, has said the leadership should consider acquiring nuclear weapons to counter threats from Tehran, and from Israel.
The prince, seen as influential though no longer holding public office, noted that Israel is widely assumed to have a nuclear arsenal and that Iran, Riyadh's arch-rival in the Middle East, is believed by many to be developing such weaponry.
"If our efforts, and the efforts of the world community, fail to convince Israel to shed its weapons of mass destruction and to prevent Iran from obtaining similar weapons, we must, as a duty to our country and people, look into all options we are given, including obtaining these weapons ourselves," he told a conference in Riyadh on Monday.
The remarks were covered in the Saudi press on Tuesday.
Prince Turki has argued for a nuclear-free Middle East in previous speeches, but is now also pushing the idea that the conservative Islamic kingdom might enter an atomic arms race if Iran, its bitterest regional rival, became a nuclear power.
Few analysts believe Riyadh, the world's top oil exporter and a key ally for the United States, is likely to embark upon a weapons programme in defiance of U.S. calls for restraint. But Turki's remarks signal the extent of concern over non-Arab Iran's military ambitions among Arab Gulf countries.
In his speeches, the prince has always repeated Saudi Arabia's official policy that the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme can only be solved through diplomacy and he has repeatedly warned against a military confrontation.
However, Turki has been more outspoken in public than other leading Saudis against what Riyadh sees as Iranian expansionism in the Middle East. U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks showed the kingdom's leaders discreetly urging Washington to take stronger measures, including military action, against Iran.
In June, a British newspaper quoted Turki as telling NATO officials that Saudi Arabia would have to develop nuclear weapons if Iran, its adversary in a confrontation that opposes Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim forces, succeeded in acquiring them.
Iran, like Saudi Arabia a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), insists its nuclear programme is exclusively for generating electricity. It has suffered heavy sanctions from international powers demanding it halt activities that they believe are intended for military purposes.
Israel, which has a policy of neither confirming nor denying that it has nuclear weapons, says it would not sign up to a ban until there were a comprehensive regional peace that included Iran, Saudi Arabia and others. That is a position effectively endorsed by Washington, Israel's most important ally.
Saudi Arabia is estimated to spend as much as 10 percent of national income on its armed forces. It is also exploring the possibility of setting up its own nuclear power programme to reduce its consumption of oil, freeing up more crude for export. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif in Riyadh and Angus McDowall in Dubai; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
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Saudi Arabia vows to end violence with "iron fist"
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(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said on Monday its security forces would use "an iron fist" to end violence in a Shi'ite Muslim area of the country and defended its tactics against what it called foreign-backed troublemakers.
Sunni Muslim kingdom Saudi Arabia has blamed an unnamed foreign power, widely understood to mean Shi'ite Iran, for backing attacks on its security forces in its Eastern Province.
But members of the Shi'ite minority in the area have accused the kingdom's own security force of using violence against protesters.
"It is the state's right to confront those that confront it first ... and the Saudi Arabian security forces will confront such situations ... with determination and force and with an iron first," the ministry said in a statement.
The statement came in response to a sermon preached in the Qatif area of the Eastern Province last week that criticized the government's handling of the situation, in which at least six people have been killed, a ministry spokesman said.
Shi'ite activists in Qatif said the clashes first began at the height of the Arab uprisings last year and were provoked by the detention without charge of political campaigners.
Four people were killed in November, one in January and one earlier this month, the interior ministry has said in past statements.
Members of the minority have long complained of discrimination, which they say makes it harder for them to find government jobs, attend university or worship in open than members of the Sunni majority.
Since the protests and clashes started last year, they have also complained of police checkpoints and patrols which they describe as heavy handed.
The government says it does not discriminate against Shi'ites and has said the increased security is intended to protect Qatif residents.
It has repeatedly blamed the clashes on people attacking security forces.
The statement said the security forces were using "the greatest restraint ... despite continuing provocations" and "will not act except in self defense and will not initiate confrontations."
"Some of those few (who attacked security forces) are manipulated by foreign hands because of the kingdom's honorable foreign policy positions towards Arab and Islamic countries," the ministry's spokesman said in the statement.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have fought for influence across the Middle East.
(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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Saudi women students boycott classes in rare protest
10 Mar 2012 18:50
Source: reuters // Reuters
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, March 10 (Reuters) - Thousands of students at an all-female university in Saudi Arabia boycotted classes on Saturday, protesting against poor services, witnesses said, in a rare display of dissent from women in the conservative Islamic kingdom.
It was the second protest at King Khalid university in the southern town of Abha in a week - security forces broke up a demonstration there on Wednesday, leaving dozens injured, students told Reuters.
The protests first erupted when the university cancelled cleaning services, saying students needed to take better care of their campus.
"The main trigger was the accumulation of trash for three days which started to smell. The other thing is the mistreatment of students," one of the students told Reuters on Saturday, asking not to be named.
"Today there was a high rate of absences ... There were security and religious police outside the university but no arrests were made," the student added
Video footage posted on YouTube on Saturday appeared to show about 200 students at Abha's affiliated all-male King Khalid University also holding a protest against poor services and calling for the removal of the university's president.
Abdel Karim al-Hunaini, deputy governor of the surrounding Aseer province, told Reuters he thought the students at both establishments had a right to protest and local authorities would set up a committee to address their demands.
Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in education to deal with high youth unemployment in a country where about 70 percent of the native population of 19 million is under 30. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif)
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