Iraq’s Muqtada Al-Sadr supports PM call for national dialogue

Leader of the Iraqi Sadrist Movement and prominent Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr yesterday announced his support for Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s call for national dialogue, Anadolu reported.

This came in a statement read by the director of Al-Sadr’s media office, Haider Al-Jabri, in which he also said: “Everyone is required to activate reform dialogue between all parties, including the protesting youth generation”, adding that dialogue should take place under the supervision of the United Nations and that everyone who has a Baathist or terrorist affiliation should be excluded.

The statement did not define who was included in “the terrorist” affiliation, but Al-Sadr went on to accuse some political parties of using infiltrators within peaceful protests to escalate the security and political situation for electoral gains.

Al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government to carry out its duties in preserving the state’s security and prestige.

Earlier on Monday, Al-Kadhimi called on the country’s rival political groups to use dialogue to solve their differences.

“In the atmosphere of love and tolerance promoted by the visit of His Holiness the Pope to the land of Iraq, we present today the call for a national dialogue,” Al-Kadhimi said in a televised speech.

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