|
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A Shiite Muslim cleric who is an
aide to the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Arab
party will most likely head the committee drafting
the country's new constitution, three lawmakers said
Monday.
The chairman will be announced during Tuesday's
meeting of the National Assembly, or parliament,
said Hussain al-Shahristani, a deputy parliament
speaker.
Although al-Shahristani would not say who the choice
was, three legislators told The Associated Press it
probably would be Hummam Hammoudi, a Shiite Muslim
cleric who is a senior aide to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.
Al-Hakim, a cleric, is the leader of the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI,
which is the largest Shiite Arab party in Iraq and
controls the largest bloc in the 275-member National
Assembly.
The three deputies - Abdul-Khaleq Zangana,
Jalaleddine al-Saghir and Bahaa al-Araji - also said
Hammoudi will have a Kurdish deputy: legislator
Fouad Massoum.
``We have agreed with the Kurds that Hummam Hammoudi
will head the committee and Fouad Massoum will be
his deputy,'' Shiite legislator al-Araji said.
The Kurds have asked that a second deputy be named
and requested that he be a Sunni Muslim Arab, a
proposal that the Shiites have accepted, he said,
adding that the Sunni Arab legislator of choice was
Adnan al-Janabi.
There are just 17 Sunni Arabs in the assembly
following a decision by many members of the minority
not to participate in the January elections, either
from choice or fear of reprisal by insurgents.
Sunni extremists are believed to make up the core of
the insurgency and mainstream Sunni organizations
have boycotted the constitutional process.
There have been calls for more Sunni inclusion in
both the government and in the process to draft the
constitution, which must be drawn up by mid-August
and put to a nationwide referendum by October.
Under the interim constitution, if two-thirds of the
voters in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces
reject the draft constitution, the National Assembly
will be dissolved and new elections held.
During a recent visit to Iraq, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said Iraq's new government must
move quickly to write a constitution reflecting the
full spectrum of ethnic and religious groups in
Iraq.
Earlier this month, the National Assembly appointed
a 55-member committee of legislators from Shiite,
Sunni and Kurdish groups to draw up the charter.
The Shiite-dominated government is headed by Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leader of the
conservative Islamic Dawa party. The government has
said it wants the constitution to reflect the
Islamic character of Iraq, while the Kurds have
threatened to reject any attempt to turn the country
into a religious state.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite
cleric, wants to make sure the new constitution
respects the country's Islamic identity. Shiites
make up about 60 percent of Iraq's estimated 27
million people.
Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is virulently
anti-American, told an Iraqi television network
Monday that ``as long as Iraq is occupied, we will
not take part in drafting the constitution. We
consider the Quran as our constitution.''
AP
Top |
® 