Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Sectarian tension is the permanent trick the authorities in Bahrain use to counter the people's demands for political and economic reform in the country. Popular discontent with the government's acts of monopolizing power and wealth, marginalizing and humiliating citizens, and burdening the country with debt is increasing, so they need something to cause a distraction from all this.

The demons of politics, who know nothing about moral or national values, are working towards escalating the pace of targeting the Shiite indigenous community, as a way out of any predicament in which the ruling family finds itself fallen into.

It is also politically motivated since the Shiite community is a great incubator for the opposition and the loudest voice rejecting normalization with the Israeli occupation.

It is a purely security-related decision to provoke a non-existent state of chaos by escalating sectarian provocations. Chaos, according to them and mainly the Interior Minister, is the ladder that leads them to their ambitions or keeps their growing gains.

The recent steps of provocation began with the sudden summoning of scholar Sheikh Mahammad Sanqour and then his arrest for days, after which the authorities abandoned its responsibilities as a state regarding the case of the execution of martyrs Jaafar Sultan and Sadiq Thamer in Saudi Arabia, and disregarded the demand to bring back their bodies from Saudi Arabia.

Not only this, but the authorities sent the undersecretary of foreign affairs to Saudi Arabia to support Saudi Arabia's stance and praise its policy and wisdom, which is similar to the authorities' public support for the execution of the two martyrs.

On the ground, the authorities have intensified raids and arrests in various areas across Bahrain, and launched a campaign of public threats against those in charge of Friday prayers at the Imam Sadiq Mosque (PBUH) in Diraz by the Ministry of Justice.

As for the Interior Minister, he also issued clear threats during his visit to the United States to eradicate views that he considers extremist, bringing back the siege of Diraz and preventing worshipers from reaching the mosque.

To create a false image of a general situation that supports these sectarian decisions, the official newspapers launched media campaigns against the Friday platform in Diraz, campaigns that the authorities moved through some of its well-known tools.

Speakers of the House of Representatives and Shura Council, MPs and loyal figures have participated in this programmed campaign, which also used some of the well-known faces associated with incitement against the Shiite community since 2011 to date.

The authorities were not satisfied with all of this, so they closed, weeks ago, through some of their followers, the entrance of "Sa'asa'a bin Souhan" shrine with road blocks, noting that this closure seriously threatens its fate.

All these escalatory steps aim to ignite the situation and create new battles aimed at hitting the sectarian nerve in the country, especially since government loyalists have been complaining about the deteriorating living conditions, and therefore fabricating a battle with the Shiite community may shift the priorities of the complainers.

Arabic Version