Sistani Aide Blasts Jaafari Government

Sistani Aide Blasts Jaafari Government

From BBC World Monitoring:

November 11, 2005

AIDE SAYS IRAQ’S AL-SISTANI’S CRITICIZES PM AL-JA’FARI’S GOVERNMENT

Text of report by Iraqi Al-Sharqiyah TV on 11 November

The representative of Grand Ayatollah Al-Sayyid Ali al-Sistani has criticized the performance of Dr Ibrahim al-Ja’fari’s government and warned it against a failure in the upcoming round of elections unless it takes action in addressing the basic needs of citizens.

During the Friday sermon, he delivered in Al-Sahn al-Husayni [Imam Husayn’s holy shrine, enclosing Imam Husayn’s mausoleum], Shaykh Abd-al-Mahdi al-Karbala’i, representative of Al-Sayyid al-Sistani in Karbala, said that the poverty-stricken class of people is still facing difficulties in the living conditions, especially with regard to food and housing. He accused the current government of being unable to provide them with these basic needs.

The representative of Al-Sayyid al-Sistani went on to say that this situation drives the sectors of people to a state of carelessness towards and dissatisfaction with this government. He stressed that if the situation remains as is; the political entities participating in the government will lose large number of their supporters.

Al-Karbala’i stressed that the [religious authority’s] position towards these entities will remain as it was during the previous elections. He said that some of them [supporters] began to shift their support for these entities to other parties.

Source: Al-Sharqiyah, Baghdad, in Arabic 1300 gmt 11 Nov 05