ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Senior Iraqi cleric and politician Muqtada al-Sadr threatened on Saturday hold a “million-man demonstration” in the national capital if parliament did not hold a session to vote on the cabinet of Prime Minister-Designate Muhammad Allawi.
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Sadr’s firm warning comes after Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi said that an extraordinary session on the issue would not take place unless Allawi sent the names of cabinet ministers and his program to parliament for review.
Allawi has reportedly said that he would send his proposed cabinet to the legislature just ahead of the vote on Monday. This comes amid disputes between Shia political leaders on the one side and the Kurdish and Sunni leadership on the other.
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“We look forward to holding the parliament session to vote on a ministerial cabinet free of quotas so that its first task is to set the date and provide the atmosphere for early and fair elections in accordance with the aspirations of the people, prosecute the corrupt, killers of peaceful demonstrators, protect peaceful revolutionaries, as well as work for the sovereignty of Iraq,” Sadr said in a statement.
He added, “If a session does not take place this week, or if it was held and an impartial Iraqi cabinet was not voted on… then this necessitates a million-man popular demonstration… and then turning it into sit-ins around the Green Zone.”
Sadr arrived in the Iraqi city of Najaf Saturday, leaving Iran’s Qom following an apparent outbreak of the novel coronavirus that has killed at least five people so far, according to local reports.
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An influential figure with the ability to rally hundreds of thousands of Iraqis behind him, Sadr was the most vocal supporter of Allawi’s nomination to take the embattled country’s premiership in early February.
After announcing his backing of Allawi, Sadr also ordered his militias to clamp down on anti-government protesters he had claimed to be supporting just days earlier.
According to the media, human rights organizations, the UN, and protesters themselves, militia members have shot demonstrators and activists with sniper rifles and carried out targeted assassinations against those who have taken to the streets to demand a higher standard of living, increased employment opportunities, and an end to rampant governmental corruption.
Content retrieved from: https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/00ca33a5-5967-416f-98cf-24f34a3ce360.
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