In a convoluted attempt to maintain order within, Saudi Arabia (SA) executed 47 people, including al Qaeda members but most significantly a Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, known for boldly calling for peaceful resistance against the Saudi leadership’s unjust treatment of the Shia minority in the kingdom. Predictably, what followed was a fierce reaction from SA’s persisting rival, the predominantly Shia state of Iran, where in retaliation protesters ravaged the Saudi embassy. While the Iranian government harshly criticized the execution, it nevertheless condemned the attack. However, SA quickly followed by severing all diplomatic ties and expelling Iranian diplomats, and has recently continued with terminating air and trade links. Allies of SA including Bahrain and Sudan followed suit, breaking off all ties with Iran, and the UAE downgraded connections. The rising of sectarian fever was not restricted to Iran and SA, with anger rising in Shia communities across the region, reflected not only in the statements of leaders but also in protests in Pakistan, Iraq, and many other countries. Unfortunately this vehemence, as was vastly feared, has begun to manifest itself in local conflicts. Already, two Sunni mosques in Shia majority Iraq have been attacked. The potential for this issue to burgeon into a massive violent crisis in the Middle East, which at this point requires unity against heightened terrorist threats, especially arising from IS, is apparent in the concerns being voiced by the US, Germany, Russia and China, with all of them, like Pakistan, advocating a peaceful resolution of the matter.
What is perhaps the most troubling is the fact that the inevitable sectarian conflagration that SA’s decision to execute al-Nimr, a peaceful spiritual leader indubitably undeserving of such a ruthless punishment, has caused, could have been anticipated. An initial analysis patently reveals that the purpose of the executions was to feign vigour in dealing with terrorist threats such as al Qaeda, and please the Sunni majority. Further scrutiny reveals that the resulting commotion was possibly planned to be used to deflect attention from more pressing local issues. These tensions threaten to rise to an international scale, but also within countries. What SA has failed to realise is that the fire it has lit can just as easily incinerate itself. Considering that the eastern region of SA is not only the main oil-bearing area but also predominantly Shia, it is easy to see what a sectarian powder keg it could prove. The regional sectarian antagonism that SA’s vacuous and reckless actions seem to have instigated must be tackled through mediation between SA and Iran before things spin out of control.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/06-Jan-2016/split-deepens
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