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Baqir Al-Hakim: "We want a democratic government"

From Middle East Online earlier today, Baqr Al-Hakim in his own words:

Iraq's most prominent Shiite Muslim leader struck a careful balance Saturday as he returned from 23 years in exile, rallying supporters, who paid dearly under the ousted Iraqi regime, but trying to reassure other ethnic and religious groups.

Addressing a huge rally in Basra's main stadium, the head of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, told the faithful they needed to turn the page on the horrors of the past and forge a new Iraq.

"We now have to know our own way to rebuild Iraq, and forget the past," the 64-year-old Hakim said.

"We Muslims have to live together. We have to build security for our new society."

But despite the tens of thousands of supporters who had turned out to welcome him in the Shiites' southern stronghold on his arrival from Iran, the SAIRI leader avoided any note of triumphalism and sought to calm fears that his movement sought a Tehran-style theocracy.

"We want a democratic government, representing the Iraqi nation, the Iraqi people, the Muslims, Christians and all the minorities," he said.

Shiite Muslims make up around 60 percent of the Iraqi population, which also includes a complex mix of Kurds, Christians, Sunni Muslims and others. Some Iraqis fear the Shiites will eventually push for a state based on Islamic law.

Throughout his 45-minute address, Hakim presented himself as a spiritual leader - rather than a man to be compared with Iran's hardline revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

But he clearly marked his distance from the British-US coalition occupying Iraq, speaking out against "imperialism" and demanding that Iraqis be left to forge their own destiny.

"We have to help each other stand together against imperialism," he said to cheers of "God is Greatest" from around the stadium.

"We are Muslims. We want the Iraqi people to govern themselves," he said, surrounded by bodyguards in civilian clothes from his group's military wing, the Badr Brigade.

"We want an independent government. We refuse imposed government.

"The Iraqi people do not need anyone to help them choose their government, and they are capable with the help of God of building this government."

Posted by Mike at May 10, 2003 02:32 PM | TrackBack