Extra riot police on the streets?
Monday, May 17, 2004
Is it just me, or am I seeing an abundance of riot police vehicles patrolling the streets in the past few days? It reminds of the days during the uprising way back in 1995/96 when there were public security vehicles on every street corner. Well I'm guessing that the added security these days is a precaution against any trouble that might be sparked by the political standoff that has not yet come to a proper conclusion.
On another note, isn't it odd that the vast majority of the public security personnel on the streets are from a completely different land and culture? For those of you not from Bahrain, the guys patrolling the streets are almost entirely from the Balochi ethnic group, hailing from the Balochistan province of Pakistan. I'm not really sure when and how this system began, but a friend of mine from Oman tells me that Balochis make up the bulk of the security forces over there also. But that makes some slightly more sense as regions of Balochistan were once a part of the Omani Sultanate, and I remember reading somewhere that the Balochis were even used as security forces in Zanzibar when it was still under Omani rule.
The Balochis really have a reputation on the island. I remember that when I was in school here, guys with the right contacts would threaten to have "the Balochis come beat you up". And I heard many stories of this actually being done.
Well if anyone knows anything behind any of this then let us know.
On another note, isn't it odd that the vast majority of the public security personnel on the streets are from a completely different land and culture? For those of you not from Bahrain, the guys patrolling the streets are almost entirely from the Balochi ethnic group, hailing from the Balochistan province of Pakistan. I'm not really sure when and how this system began, but a friend of mine from Oman tells me that Balochis make up the bulk of the security forces over there also. But that makes some slightly more sense as regions of Balochistan were once a part of the Omani Sultanate, and I remember reading somewhere that the Balochis were even used as security forces in Zanzibar when it was still under Omani rule.
The Balochis really have a reputation on the island. I remember that when I was in school here, guys with the right contacts would threaten to have "the Balochis come beat you up". And I heard many stories of this actually being done.
Well if anyone knows anything behind any of this then let us know.
This entry was posted
on Monday, May 17, 2004 at 5/17/2004 12:39:00 am. Permalink
5/17/2004 03:09:00 am
Hey Chan'ad :)
It is a completely different world to the west. Riots very rarely occur here.
I just wanted to thank you for your blog. Our media allways paints middle eastern countries as being filled with 3000 year old goatherders. We ofcourse know this is not true. I, like nearly all my fellow westerners, am fairly ignorant of life in the middle east and a blog such as yours allows us to meet and see real muslims and cultures instead of the constant terrorist/anti muslim media. Good on you!
Thanks again :)