Baathist remnants should not cause rift between Iran and Iraq: Khatami

“We should not allow remnants of the former Iraqi regime to create disparity between the two countries by leveling baseless accusations,” Khatami told the visiting Iraqi Vice-President Ibrahim Jafari by referring to deep historical and cultural ties between the nations of the two neighboring states.

During the meeting Khatami stressed that holding a prompt election and establishing a democratic government in Iraq would help resolve the problems that the country has faced over the past century.

Stressing the necessity for the participation of all of Iraq’s ethnic groups and tribes in elections, the President said that peace and security could be restored in the country by writing a constitution.

Khatami said that holding elections is a historical demand from the Iraqi nation.

The innocent people of Iraq, who have become free of the oppressions of the former Baath regime, are now able to stand on their own feet, he added.

Peace can only be established in Iraq with the establishment of a government that has risen from the very heart of the people, the president stressed.

He further emphasized the necessity for all countries to prevent interference in each other’s internal affairs, saying “We believe Iraq can resolve the current problems and make progress if regional states cooperate with the country with respect to the will of the Iraqi nation.”

He said Iran defended the rights of the Iraqi nation in the Sharm al-Sheikh conference and will welcome any regional cooperation under the supervision of the UN to help resolve the current crisis in the war-torn country.

Khatami expressed hope that approaches for improving the status of the Iraqi people, establishing security in Iraq and expanding regional cooperation would gain more momentum in a meeting of interior ministers of Iraq’s neighboring states which is going to be held in Tehran soon.

He further expressed Iran’s readiness to resume the traverse of pilgrims between the two countries and to expand economic ties in the countries’ borderlines.

Jafari on his part pointed to the two countries’ cultural-historical commonalities and stressed the expansion of ties in the fields of trade and tourism.

He stressed that the elections in Iraq would be held in a regular manner without any sectarian tendencies.

The vice-president lauded the government of the Islamic Republic which is going to host a meeting of the interior ministers of countries neighboring Iraq with the aim of developing regional cooperation and helping to restore calm in Iraq.

Jafari referred to the Sharm al-Sheikh meeting as a step toward supporting the Iraqi nation. 

Iraqi Shiite leaders say election delay unacceptable

One of Iraq's most powerful Shiite Muslim parties said on Saturday any delay to planned Jan. 30 elections would be a victory for insurgents trying to wreck the process.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the influential Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told Reuters he would reject calls by leading Sunni Muslim and secular parties for elections to be postponed amid relentless violence.

"This would mean that the terrorists have been able to achieve one of their main objectives; that there be no elections and that a suitable political process does not start," he said.

"We will insist on the necessity of holding elections and that a delay will not be in the interests of the Iraqi people."

Iraq's 60 percent Shiite majority, oppressed under Saddam Hussein, is keen for the election go ahead on time, knowing it is likely to cement the increased power they have enjoyed since the Sunni former president's overthrow.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, would have the final say on any Shiite decision to agree to a postponement. Sistani supports an early poll and Hakim saw it as unlikely he could be persuaded to change his mind.

Seventeen groups including the two main Kurdish parties, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord and a party

led by U.S. ally Adnan Pachachi called on Friday for a delay of up to six months.

Sunni Arabs, who feel marginalized since the war that toppled fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein, have pushed for postponement, saying violence in Sunni-dominated areas after a U.S. offensive on Falluja has made a viable vote impossible.

Some have threatened to boycott the poll if it goes ahead.

The main secular parties also fear being marginalized by Shiite Islamist parties.

"No side has the right to delay the election, not the (electoral) commission, not the government, not the National

Council," Hakim said, referring to a 100-seat assembly set up in August to oversee the government.

"If it is postponed, there will be nothing legal and legitimate in the country, not the government, not the National Council nor any institution," Hakim said.

 No guarantee of future calm

Hakim said SCIRI, which was based in Iran during its years as an exiled opposition group, called for elections after the war ended in April, but had made do with the now-defunct U.S.-appointed Governing Council.

SCIRI, one of Iraq's main Shiite parties, again called for sovereignty to be transferred to an elected body in June, but agreed instead to join the interim government tasked with preparing for an election to be held by the end of January.

That date was stipulated in an interim constitution approved by the UN Security Council.

It is not clear who has the power to delay the election. The Independent Electoral Commission said on Saturday it did not have the power to do so alone and any decision would have to be taken in concert with the United Nations and others.

Hakim said it was possible to hold elections across Iraq, despite the bloodshed, and that there was no guarantee, even if the election was delayed, that killings, bombings and clashes would abate over the next six months.

"The situation was much better when we called for elections at the start of this year. The situation has become worse," he said. "I see no plan, no guarantee that the situation in Iraq will improve."

Allawi's government repeated on Saturday its determination that the poll be held on time.

 Iraqi Prime Minister 'determined to hold elections on time'

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s spokesman said today that the government was determined to hold January 30 elections on time despite calls by Sunni Muslim politicians to delay the balloting for six months because of deteriorating security.

About 17 Sunni Muslim politicians urged the government on Friday to postpone the elections, in part to convince Sunni clerics to abandon their call for a boycott and to enable the authorities to secure polling stations.

However, the interim constitution and the UN Security Council have mandated a ballot by the end of January to meet demands by religious leaders of the majority Shiite community, which has been insisting on elections since the early months of the US military presence.

“The Iraqi government is determined, as I told you before, to hold elections on time,” Allawi’s spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb told reporters.

“The Iraqi government led by the prime minister is calling for all spectra of the Iraqi people to participate in the elections, and to contribute in the elections to build a strong democratic country.”

Al-Naqeeb said that boycotts do not serve “the country or the future of Iraq and we hope that there won’t be any boycott from any party whatsoever”.

Al-Naqeeb said Allawi “considers seriously the responsibility given to him” by the interim constitution and the Security Council “to carry out elections at the end of January”.

“The prime minister deeply understands the importance of this opinion” to delay the balloting “but he also understands the insistence of other political parties and national figures for holding elections on time."

HL/MS

End

MNA