Mohammed Ibn Laith

نقل ممثل المرجعية الدينية العليا في النجف الأشرف شكر المرجعية لجميع العراقيين الذي شاركوا في الانتخابات النيابية، وأنها تتوجه بأسمى آيات الشكر والامتنان والتقدير لهم، سواء أكانوا داخل العراق او خارجه.

وبين سماحة الشيخ (عبد المهدي الكربلائي) خلال خطبة صلاة الجمعة (25 ربيع الأول 1431 الموافق 12 آذار2010) في الصحن الحسيني الشريف "إن هؤلاء المواطنين يستحقون مثل هذا التقدير وذلك لما ابدوه من شجاعة وتحمّل للمسؤولية الوطنية في إنجاح هذه الانتخابات، وذلك يعبِّر عن وعيهم وادراكهم لحجم المسؤولية الوطنية الملقاة على عاتقهم في ظل هذه الظروف العصيبة التي يمّر بها بلدنا العزيز، ويعبِّر ايضا عن مدى حبهم وولائهم لوطنهم وعشقهم للحرية ولارساء دعائم الامن والاستقرار في هذا البلد".

واضاف سماحته " اننا في الوقت نفسه نثمّن باعتزاز كبير استجابة المواطنين العالية لتوجيهات المرجعية الدينية العليا لهذه المشاركة الواسعة، والتي تمثل النسبة المعلنة لها من قبل المفوضية العليا المستقلة للانتخابات عن مدى وعي الشعب العراقي وحبه لوطنه واستجابته لتوجيهات المرجعية الدينية العليا. كما نعزّي عوائل الشهداء الذين سقطوا بسبب التفجيرات الارهابية في ايام الانتخابات ونسأل الله تعالى الشفاء العاجل للجرحى".

ونوه الى "ان حب الشعب العراقي لوطنه وتحمّله للمسؤولية الوطنية اسقط رهان الارهابيين بإفشال هذه الملحمة وذلك من خلال عدم الاكتراث للتهديدات التي صدرت من الجماعات الارهابية، حيث خرج الملايين ليسطروا ملاحم الولاء لوطنهم من خلال استعدادهم للتضحية في سبيل إنجاح التجربة الديمقراطية" .

وتابع الشيخ الكربلائي ان "هذه المحلمة الوطنية اصبحت موضع تقدير واعجاب واحترام الكثير من شعوب العالم ومكوناته وذلك لما شاهدوه من وعي واستعداد للتضحية من قبل ابناء الشعب العراقي الذي شارك في انجاح تلك الملحمة مجموعة من الامور منها:

1- الدور التوجيهي والارشادي الالهي والوطني للمرجعية الدينية العليا والذي كان سبباً في اندفاع ابناء الشعب العراقي للمشاركة في هذه الملحمة .

2- الدور الامني الكبير الذي قامت به الاجهزة الامنية حيث واصلت الليل بالنهار لتوفير الامن والحماية للمواطنين المشاركين في هذه الانتخابات ..

كما توجه الشيخ الكربلائي في خطبته بالشكر والتقدير للمفوضية العليا المستقلة للانتخابات التي قامت بتنظيم هذه الحملة الوطنية الرائعة. مشيرا انها بذلت جهوداً كبيرة ولشهور عديدة من اجل انجاح هذه الحملة. مضيفا " كنا نأمل ان يشارك المواطنون الذين حُرِموا من الادلاء باصواتهم لعدم ظهور اسمائهم في قوائم الناخبين. موعزا السبب وراء ذلك. إمّا عدم مراجعتهم لسجلات الناخبين قبل اجراء الانتخابات لتحديث سجلاتهم او لبعد المسافة بينهم وبين مراكز الاقتراع المخصصة لهم وعدم تيسّر وسائط النقل او لاسباب اخرى".

واكد الشيخ الكربلائي على ضرورة أن تجري المفوضية العليا المستقلة للانتخابات فرز وعدّ الاصوات لاعلان النتائج النهائية بمهنية عالية وبعيدة عن الشبهات، لئلا تدخل في معترك الطعن والاتهام الذي قد يؤخر ويربك الاجراءات المتخذة لبدء عمل مجلس النواب.

كما ودعا سماحته الكتل السياسية، بعد ان انتهت مرحلة الانتخابات وقدّم الشعب العراقي هذه التضحيات وادى المسؤولية الوطنية الملقاة على عاتقه، " ان يكون هناك تقدير وتثمين لهذا الدور البطولي للشعب العراقي.. وليس المطلوب هنا شكر وتقدير بالكلام من هذه الكتل للشعب العراقي.. بل تحمّل المسؤولية – عاجلاً – في الاشهر القادمة بحيث يغلبّوا مصالح الشعب العراقي على التجاذبات السياسية فيما بينهم وذلك بتشكيل الحكومة بأسرع وقت ممكن، موضحا ان تشكيل الحكومة يجب ان يكون تشكيلاً لحكومة قوية قادرة على ان تنهض باداء وتحمل المسؤولية الملقاة على عاتقها في توفير الاستقرار الامني الدائم وتقديم الخدمات وتوفير فرص العمل ورعاية الطبقات الفقيرة والمحرومة وانشاء المشاريع المختلفة لتطوير البلد في مختلف الميادين وتوفير حاجات المواطنين"..

واضاف " نأمل ان يكون الوزراء الذين تتشكّل منهم الحكومة القادمة ممن يتصفون بالكفاءة والنزاهة والحرص على خدمة المواطنين والقدرة على تحمّل المسؤولية بما تمليه الظروف الراهنة التي يمر بها بلدنا وشعبنا.. وهذا ما أكدّت عليه المرجعية الدينية العليا".

واختتم الشيخ الكربلائي حديثه قائلاً "ان الشعب الذي امتثل لتوجيهات المرجعية الدينية العليا فسطّر هذه الملحمة الوطنية، يستحق ان تكون له حكومة مشكلة من وزراء يتصفون بما وجهّت به المرجعية الدينية العليا، حتى تكون قادرة على الوفاء بالالتزامات التي قطعتها الكتل السياسية المشاركة في الانتخابات من خلال برامجها الانتخابية التي طرحتها على ابناء الشعب العراقي" .

Now they have Article 2 of the Constitution: "Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation." Sub-head A says "No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam." Under this Article the interpretation of women’s rights is left to religious leaders – and many of them are under Iranian influence.

"The U.S. occupation has decided to let go of women’s rights," Yanar Mohammed who campaigns for women’s rights in Iraq says. "Political Islamic groups have taken southern Iraq, are fully in power there, and are using the financial support of Iran to recruit troops and allies. The financial and political support from Iran is why the Iraqis in the south accept this, not because the Iraqi people want Islamic law."

With the new law has come the new lawlessness. Nora Hamaid, 30, a graduate from Baghdad University, has now given up the career she dreamt of. "I completed my studies before the invaders arrived because there was good security and I could freely go to university," Hamaid tells IPS. Now she says she cannot even move around freely, and worries for her children every day. "I mean every day, from when they depart to when they return from school, for fear of abductions."

There is 25 percent representation for women in parliament, but Sabria says "these women from party lists stand up to defend their party in the parliament, not for women’s rights." For women in Iraq, the invasion is not over.

The situation for Iraq’s women reflects the overall situation: everyone is affected by lack of security and lack of infrastructure.

"The status of women here is linked to the general situation," Maha Sabria, professor of political science at Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad tells IPS. "The violation of women’s rights was part of the violation of the rights of all Iraqis." But, she said, "women bear a double burden under occupation because we have lost a lot of freedom because of it.

"More men are now under the weight of detention, so now women bear the entire burden of the family and are obliged to provide full support to the families and children. At the same time women do not have freedom of movement because of the deteriorated security conditions and because of abductions of women and children by criminal gangs."

Women, she says, are also now under pressure to marry young in family hope that a husband will bring security.

Sabria tells IPS that the abduction of women "did not exist prior to the occupation. We find that women lost their right to learn and their right to a free and normal life, so Iraqi women are struggling with oppression and denial of all their rights, more than ever before."

Yanar Mohammed believes the constitution neither protects women nor ensures their basic rights. She blames the United States for abdicating its responsibility to help develop a pluralistic democracy in Iraq.

"The U.S. occupation has decided to let go of women’s rights," Mohammed told reporters. "Political Islamic groups have taken southern Iraq, are fully in power there, and are using the financial support of Iran to recruit troops and allies. The financial and political support from Iran is why the Iraqis in the south accept this, not because the Iraqi people want Islamic law."

"The real ruler in Iraq now is the rule of old traditions and tribal, backward laws," Sabria says. "The biggest problem is that more women in Iraq are unaware of their rights because of the backwardness and ignorance prevailing in Iraqi society today."

Many women have fled Iraq because their husband was arbitrarily arrested by occupation forces or government security personnel, says Sabria.

More than four million Iraqis were estimated to have been displaced through the occupation, including approximately 2.8 million internally. The rest live as refugees mainly in neighbouring countries, according to a report by Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings Institution-University of Bern Project on Internal Displacement.

The report, titled, ‘Going Home? Prospects and Pitfalls For Large-Scale Return Of Iraqis’, says most displaced Iraqi women are reluctant to return home because of continuing uncertainties.

The Washington-based Refugees International (RI) says in a report ‘Iraqi Refugees: Women’s Rights and Security Critical to Returns’ that "Iraqi women will resist returning home, even if conditions improve in Iraq, if there is no focus on securing their rights as women and assuring their personal security and their families’ well-being."

The RI report covered internally displaced women in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region and female refugees in Syria. "Not one woman interviewed by RI indicated her intention to return," the report says.

"This tent is more comfortable than a palace in Baghdad; my family is safe here," a displaced woman in northern Iraq told RI.

The situation continues to be challenging for women within Iraq.

"I am an employee, and everyday go to my work place, and the biggest challenge for me and all the suffering Iraqis is the roads are closed and you feel you are a person without rights, without respect," a 35-year-old government employee, who asked to be referred to as Iman, told IPS.

"To what extent has this improved my security," she asked. "We have better salaries now, but how can women live with no security? How can we enjoy our rights if there is no safe place to go, for rest and recreation and living?"

(*Abdu, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who reports extensively on the region)

IRAQ: Women Miss Saddam – IPS ipsnews.net

Baghdad, March 05 (QNA) – leader of the most influential faction in Iraq Moqtada Al-Sadr has described participation in the parliamentary election is a kind of ”political resistance.” A statement distributed here Friday by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s political authority, Al Sadr said ,” these elections of this year , I consider them a political resistance if we run and exercise them in the most appropriate and unified form possible.” So, unite, people of Iraq, for the liberation of Iraq politically and for the service of your people”, said al Sadr in his statement.

Source: QNA | Politics | Participation in Iraqi Parliamentary Elections is a Political Resistance, Says Al Sadr

Pope Benedict XVI recently expressed his concern about violent attacks on Christians by extremists in Iraq.

Three Christians were killed in Mosul last week and two women were raped. The victims included a father and son who were killed in their home. At least eight Christians have been murdered since mid-February.

"Now the army and the police are knocking on our doors from time to time to be sure that we are doing well," the bishop told AKI.

Nona said the church did not have any preference about the election outcome but looked forward to an improvement in the quality of life in Iraq.

"The church has no particular political orientation or any preference for a given person or list (of candidates), " he said.

"The only thing that interests us is the general well-being of the country. Christians like other members of our society are exercising their right to vote for whoever they believe deserves it, in total freedom and without any directive or pressure from anyone."

The Mosul bishop said it was difficult to predict the outcome of the vote.

"The Iraqi people are counting on this election and hoping for an improvement," he told AKI. "The situation has become extremely complex and people have had enough of the tension."

He said following recent attacks, 800 Christian families had fled from Mosul to surrounding villages and most of them were waiting until after the election before they returned home.

"This election will help to bring about a return to normality in the country, so that people can return to their daily life and the church can go forward with its mission."

Last week’s brutal killings were the latest in a spate of murders targetting Christians ahead of Sunday’s election, which is being seen as crucial test of democracy in a country wracked by sectarian strife.

It is not clear if the spikebis in attacks against Christians is an attempt at voter intimidation by factions involved in a violent territorial and power struggle between Kurds and Arabs in Mosul or another attempt by Al-Qaeda to derail the election.

Christians number around 250,000 to 300,000 in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is capital.

Source: Iraq: Bishop welcomes greater security ahead of poll – Adnkronos Religion