Highly Pressured Al Sadr Calls For Dialogue, Says Will Disband If Sistani Says To
Related: Maliki Demands Al Sadr Disband Mahdi Army Entirely
BAGHDAD - Aides to Muqtada al-Sadr called Monday for dialogue to resolve a violent standoff with the Iraqi government, saying that the radical Shiite cleric would disband his militia if senior religious leaders ordered it.
Aide Hassan al-Zarqani said from Iran that al-Sadr will consult Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other top Shiite clerics if the government continues to pressure al-Sadr to disband the militia or see his candidates banned from upcoming elections.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned al-Sadr on Sunday to disband his militia or face a ban from politics.
Al-Zarqani said in a telephone interview that al-Sadr “will obey” if al-Sistani, the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, and the other clerics recommend that he do so.
The Sadrists had said earlier that a move to ban them from elections would be unconstitutional.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in an interview Sunday with CNN, issued his strongest warning yet to al-Sadr to disband his militia or face political isolation.
He said al-Sadr’s followers would not be allowed “to participate in the political process or take part in upcoming elections unless they end the Mahdi Army.”
He was referring to provincial elections expected in the fall that are likely to redistribute power in Iraq. The Sadrists have accused al- Maliki’s government and rival parties of trying to diminish their standing ahead of the vote.
The prime minister, who took office in May 2006 with al-Sadr’s support but later broke with the powerful cleric, had in the past repeatedly promised to disband militias. But his comments to CNN were the first time he publicly singled out the Mahdi Army.
“Solving the problem comes in no other way than dissolving the Mahdi Army,” al-Maliki said. “We have opened the door for confrontation, a real confrontation with these gangs, and we will not stop until we are in full control of these areas.”
Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for al-Sadr’s office in the holy city of Najaf, said al-Maliki doesn’t have the authority to make such a move because the decision is up to Iraq’s Electoral High Commission and parliament. He called for dialogue.
“Al-Sadr’s office affirms that the door is open to reach an understanding regarding these problems,” al-Obeidi told AP Television News.
“We are calling for dialogue as a way to solve problems among Iraqi groups,” al-Obeidi told AP Television News in the holy city of Najaf. “Al-Sadr’s office affirms that the door is open to reach an understanding regarding these problems.”
The U.S. military, meanwhile, said two more soldiers died in roadside bombings Sunday, raising the day’s American death toll to at least five. The announcement comes a day before the two top U.S. officials in Iraq are scheduled to brief Congress on prospects for the eventual withdrawal of American troops.
Gunbattles also continued Monday in Baghdad’s main Shiite district of Sadr City, a day after fierce clashes broke out when some 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops began an operation to push deeper into the Mahdi Army’s largest stronghold.
(Agencies)
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