As clear as the fact that the recruiters for the Bahrain National Guards are basically looking for mercenaries is the certainty that these musclemen are going to be used against the protestors in that country. The advertisements in Urdu newspapers for these positions leave little to the imagination. For, in addition to security guards and military police, was the listed position of riot control instructors. As a viral video doing the rounds on the internet these days shows, the preferred procedure of riot control by the Bahraini security forces isnt for the faint of heart. Not many have the stomach to watch it, far fewer still would have the stomach to carry it out. Not an issue here, though. Hired guns, as a trade group, were never known for their moral scruples.
Generalisations, however, can be misleading. Though the riot control instructors were expected to be veterans of the Sindh Rangers or the Elite Police but the positions for the security guards were for young, inexperienced civilians who could clear some tests. Where unemployment runs rife, plenty of other considerations are overlooked, especially when the positions are advertised in as professional a manner as this. To these youths, this employment would not be much different from those of the scores of many other Pakistanis serving in the militaries of countries in the Middle East. Perhaps they dont know what theyre getting into.
This, then, becomes a decision for the government to make. A ban on the recruitment drive, at least till the crisis blows over, could be looked into. Given the fault lines that lie underneath the protests in Bahrian, this could become a Shia-Sunni thing, which, when publicised, is going to have repercussions in Pakistan as well.
Much has been made of Pakistans position as a global supermarket of terror. We, the people, are sacrificing much to change that. Why, then, should we become a global supermarket of state-organised violence as well?