International   

Sadr rejects U.S.-Iraq security pact

— Photo: AP

Mass disapproval: Iraqis protest in the streets of Baghdad on Saturday.

BAGHDAD: Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday called on Iraq’s Parliament to reject a U.S.-Iraqi security pact as tens of thousands of his followers rallied in Baghdad against the deal.

The mass public show of opposition came as U.S. and Iraqi leaders face a December 31 deadline to agree on the deal to replace an expiring U.N. mandate authorising the U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Mr. Al-Sadr’s message was addressed to the crowd as well Iraqi legislators and read by his aide Sheikh Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi in Baghdad before a huge crowd of mostly young men waving Iraqi and green Shia flags and chanting slogans, including “No, no to the agreement” and “Yes to Iraq.”

“The Iraqi government has abandoned its duty before God and its people and referred the agreement to you knowing that ratifying it will stigmatise Iraq and its government for years to come,” he said.

“I am with every Sunni, Shia or Christian who is opposed to the agreement ... and I reject, condemn and renounce the presence of occupying forces and basis on our beloved land.”

Mr. Al-Sadr, who is living in Iran, also cast doubt on the Iraqi government’s argument that the security pact is a step toward ending the U.S. presence in Iraq. The deal would require U.S. forces to leave by December 31, 2011 unless Iraq asked some of them to stay. “If they tell you that the agreement ends the presence of the occupation, let me tell you that the occupier will retain its bases. And whoever tells you that it gives us sovereignty is a liar,” he said in his message, adding: “I am confident that you brothers in Parliament will champion the will of the people over that of the occupier ... Do not betray the people.”

Organisers insisted the turnout for the demonstrations exceeded 1 million, but Associated Press reporters and photographers at the scene said the crowd was in the tens of thousands. The police had no estimates of their own. “This demonstration is our response to the agreement,” said Nasser al-Saadi, one of 30 Sadrist legislators. “It is also meant to demand a popular referendum on the agreement,” he added.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government and the Bush administration have hammered out a draft agreement after months of bitter negotiations. But Parliament must ratify the deal and Iraq’s pre-eminent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has said any accord must have national consensus.

Mr. Maliki, a Shia, could be politically isolated if he tries to win Parliament’s backing in the face of widespread opposition. Several Sunni and Shia clerics, who wield considerable influence in shaping public opinion, also spoke out during Friday prayer services against the draft, complaining the Iraqis know little about the terms.

The draft accord specifies that U.S. troops must leave Iraq by June-end and be gone by 2012. It gives Iraq limited authority over off-duty, off-base U.S. soldiers who commit crimes. — AP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sadr rejects U.S.-Iraq security pact
Food delivered to war-displaced civilians in Sri Lanka
China’s aid to build Pakistan’s nuclear plants
Cuba set to join the big oil league
U.K. immigration clampdown
Now, CPN (UML) for name change
Canada labels BPA hazardous
Greeks finally honour poet Byron

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu