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Kurds desire International witnesses on
their rights in the Constitution Draft
11.8.2005
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Kurds desire International witnesses on their
rights in the Constitution Draft - The Shiaas Demand
Privileges for the Religious Thresholds
BAGHDAD - President Jalal Talabani is hosting
a series of meetings this week aimed at breaking
deadlock among leaders of Iraq's many communities,
including the Shi'ite Muslim majority, ethnic Kurds
and Arab Sunnis.
They are under intense U.S. pressure to meet a
self-imposed Aug. 15 deadline.
Government spokesman Laith Kubba said Iraqi leaders
were likely to agree a framework and tackle the
tough issues later.
"There is consensus on delaying some points after
the election, and agreeing on what is possible," he
told Reuters.
In the sacred southern city of Najaf, Iraq's top
Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, held
separate talks with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of one
of the main Shi'ite parties leading the government,
and fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has
led two uprisings against U.S. troops.
Hakim told reporters Sistani had said in their talks
that the constitution should guarantee the unity of
Iraq, the role of Islam and the rights of all sects.
"We believe we will reach results on time," said
Hakim after his talks with Sistani.
The reclusive Sistani has been a moderating force in
several crises. Though not part of the drafting
committee and not an elected official, many Shi'ite
politicians seek his blessing.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said a new
constitution would help undermine support for Sunni
Arab rebels. "It's important they stick with their
timetable," he told a Pentagon briefing.
In the other hand, Iyad Al Samera'e, vice president
of the Islamic Party and member the constitutional
committee, said that the clearest conservations that
the Arab Sunnis would submit in the summit meetings
of the leaders of the political blocs and parties
lies in rejecting the generalization of the
federation in Iraqi provinces, provided that it
would be restricted to Kurdistani regions.
He added, "We would work on frustrating any attempt
referring to the sectarian majority in the
constitution draft, which the Shiaas are calling
for."
He considered that the generalization of the
federation in southern provinces, of Shiite
majority, is a step towards the division of the
country in the future and the emergence of sectarian
entities. He noted that the issue "includes actual
risks on the unity of Iraqi land and people."
Al Samera'e stressed that the Arab Sunnis desire to
consider all natural resources in Iraq as a property
of everyone and under the control of the Iraqi
central government in Baghdad, in addition to the
eagerness to select an appropriate method to state
the races in Iraq, contrary to what some people
desire of stating it in a specific and distinguished
manner; referring to the Kurds' demands.
He confirmed that during the meeting of the leaders
of parties and blocs, the Arab Sunnis would demand
considering Iraq as a part of the Arab and Islamic
worlds, as an acceptable solution to prevent the
Kurdish tendency, which rejected considering Iraq as
a part of the Arab Nation.
He said, "The Shiaas desire to grant the religious
thresholds a religious identity in the draft of
permanent the Iraqi constitution, which we are
totally rejecting." He continued, "The supporters of
this demand are not clear about justifying it and we
fear dragging Iraq to crucial matters due to these
special rights of religious thresholds in Najaf,
Karbala, Al Kazemeya and Samera."
Ali Al Adhadh, a prominent leader in the Supreme
Council of Islamic Revolution, told Al Hayat that
the Shiaas are "insisting on granting the religious
thresholds a legal identity that guarantees legal
protection for them." He added, "The Shiaas reject
interference in the issues of the visitors, the
budget, and the economic resources for these
religious thresholds." This means that the money
collected from visiting the religious thresholds
would be under the supervision of the Shiite
religious references and owned by them. Meanwhile,
Shiite religious sources have confirmed that these
sums would maintain the independence of the
references, on the one hand, and enable them to
reconstruct the region, on the other hand."
He disclosed that the American ambassador in Baghdad
Zalmay Khalilzad has met with the president of
Kurdistan region Masud Barzani to assist in making
the Kurdish demands reasonable in the draft of the
permanent Iraqi constitution.
He pointed out that the Kurds have submitted
sovereignty demands in the draft of the permanent
constitution, which included granting them a
significant role in Iraqi foreign policy, which
would grant them a big quota of diplomatic
representation, and reconsidering the relations of
Kurdistan with the central government in the future.
He stated, "The greatest risk in the Kurdish demands
is requesting for international observers such as
the United Nations and some big countries in the
process of stating the Kurdish rights in the
permanent Iraqi constitution."
He said that the problem of the current Kurdish
leaders, "are not aware of the danger of the stage
that Iraq is witnessing at present and only believe
in the principle of taking not give and take." He
added, "During the meeting of the parties and blocs
leaders, the Kurds would be made aware of the fact
that there is no privilege for the Kurds with regard
to the rights stated in the draft of the permanent
constitution, similar to other Iraqis."
Reuters and Al Hayat
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