Killing A Country Slowly..

Bahrain was on the fast track to economic development and even development in political and other sectors. But in a month's time its traveled ten years back in time.

The Education Sector, economy, the construction industry, retail, there is hardly any sector that has not felt the after effects of the Pearl Roundabout gathering. They started it and many others reacted without realizing that ultimately, it is the same country at stake.

I am also compelled to ask why peaceful protesters would promote February 14, when it all started as a day of rage. Maybe we can even agree that they have been relatively peaceful, but they refuse to understand that normal life is being affected.

How can a central point of a country be taken over like this. It does not make any sense to me. Why go back to being Bedouin nomads, and drag your country back too?

The Pearl Roundabout was the face of Bahrain, a national monument revered by the residents and admired by all the visitors. For many, it's a scene we grew up seeing; joking about who kicked th pearl hard enough to reach the top. Especially on special occasions, with the lights and fountain and greenery, it could take your breath away.

All the grass there now have been trampled over. Graffiti drawn on the Pearl structure, and that too with the wrong spelling. The entire area now has been littered completely and has an awful smell. A true blue shanty town.

The F1 got cancelled, taking away with it, millions of dollars that would have been useful to Bahrain. Many would have benefited from it, from all walks of life, from all nationalities, but ultimately Bahrain would have emerged strong and victorious.


With the F1 hit, the tourism and hospitality industry took a major hit too. Fully booked hotels and flight bookings saw large scale cancellations. Major shows and concerts cancelled. People started wondering if Bahrain would even be safe. The reputation of Bahrain as a peace-loving wonderful place tarnished for good.

Another major blow to the system itself was the forceful shut down of Jawad and other such establishments, including Costa Coffee, 24 hr Mini marts and the like. This came as a retaliation to Faisal Jawad's support for those at the Pearl.

Now, though I personally feel he shouldn't have come out with such harsh criticism of the government as he himself has developed and massed wealth under the leadership, it is completely his right to voice his opinion and to stand by what he believes in.

It does not warrant forceful shut down of his business outlets. That is just being childish. Just like it is his right to freedom of speech, every citizen too has a right to boycott, if they choose to; but forcefully shutting down stores is taking it a bit too far.

If that is allowed to continue, and Praise the Lord it's not, then there would be a lot of people form both the pro and anti community that lose their jobs. And Bahrain would also lose credibility for a lot of international brands. It would also bring retaliation as others may choose to boycott or shut down more firms.

The construction industry also faced massive losses, which they say will be felt only after about 6 months. But luckily for them, the Housing Ministry has announced the Construction of 50 000 houses over a period of five years. They say it would be a boom for them.

The country took an irrecoverable step backwards when teachers joined the protests. They are bound by duty to educate and enlighten the young minds, and this became their lesson. Unacceptable by all counts.

School children then started stepping out of their class rooms, to shout political statements and it resulted in numerous brawls across Public Schools. This is students who were studying peacefully together that we are talking about.

I even spoke to students who refuse to return to the same school as they are worried about what will happen. How can parents allow this to happen? Education is what defines and makes their future. Education is their birth right. How can you take it away?

I have even seen four and five year olds shout political slogans, on both sides. Can't the parents think about the psychological impact that would have? The child is bound to grow up considering that it is perfectly acceptable to hate, thus creating another generation with the intent to fight.

The Unity of the country is so thrown out of the window. Even if everything calms down and peace reigns, I am getting a sense that there will be mistrust, and cracks that have been formed during the last month. Friends stopped talking to each other due to differences in political ideologies.

There are uncountable number of rumours doing the rounds about how a person of a particular community got hurt 'cuz others blocked the path. as far as my knowledge goes, there is no proof this happened.. But it could, traffic or rallies at hospital could mean loss of life. The Ministry of Health has stated in their report that the large number of people who crowded the hospital. And I hear the other group is planning to organize a peaceful organized rally to the Salmaniya Medical Complex. I'd suggest, please go elsewhere and let the hospital staff do their job.


The biggest issue of course is the spread of fear, of insecurity in terms of both economic and personal security. This has caused Philippines to put in place a ban on workers entering the Kingdom. Thus many got stuck without jobs in Philippines and many employers got stuck without a strong work force, who were set to join them soon.

The fear also led a large number of expatriates to take money out of Bahrain and send it back to their home country. It also cost Bahrain a number of its expatriate workforce who packed up and left. Keep in mind that these are people who worked in Bahrain, paid rent and other bills in Bahrain, purchased food and clothes from Bahrain and in different ways contributed to its development and would have continued to do so.

It is of prime importance that residents of the country, on both sides understand that they both belong to the same nation and if the Kingdom's resources are affected, then so are their futures. Why kill your own country and your own future?