Compiled from agencies
The Daily Star, Lebanon, 10 February 2006
The main political alliance representing Iraq's ousted Sunni Arab elite won a new boost Thursday with the accession of a second secular faction to its parliamentary bloc, making it by a long way the second biggest in the legislature.
The announcement came as more than a million Shiites marked the mourning ceremony of Ashura amid heavy Iraqi security presence to prevent stampedes and attacks.
The secular National Dialogue Front led by Sunni Arab politician Saleh al-Mutlaq said its 11 MPs were joining the Joint Council for National Action, giving it a total of 80 seats in the 275-seat Parliament, comfortably ahead of the 53 seats held by the main Kurdish alliance.
Mutlag's faction was the second secular movement to make common cause with the Sunni religious parties of the National Accordance Front.
The Iraqi National List, an alliance of secular and leftist parties led by secular former premier Iyad Allawi already announced the accession of its 25 MPs to the new Joint Council last month.
The main Shiite alliance is still poised to lead the new government. On Saturday the alliance will declare its candidate for the prime minister's post. The announcement, originally scheduled for Monday, was delayed for the Ashura ceremony.
Some 8,000 security personnel imposed a massive lockdown on Karbala Thursday, forbidding access to cars, searching hotels and conducting body searches on thousands of black-clad pilgrims.
"The ceremony was attended by more than a million pilgrims who participated since sunrise," Karbala police chief General Razeq Abdel-Ali al-Tayi said.
Large groups of men with shaven heads marched toward the mausoleum of Imam Hussein flagellating their heads with knives and swords as part of the ceremonies commemorating Hussein's martyrdom.
"I am participating in this ceremony as it is the least I can offer to Imam Hussein who gave his life for Islam," said Riaz Mustafa, 30, whose head was bleeding from deep gashes after series of stabs.
Clad in white burial shroud, now drenched in blood, Mustafa was among the hundreds who were bleeding profusely from the rituals of self-flagellation meant to evoke sufferings of Hussein in his final hours.
Outlawed under the regime of ousted leader Saddam Hussein, Ashura is the most venerated of Shiite events and has been targeted by Sunni Arab insurgents in previous years.
In 2004, 170 people were killed in attacks in Baghdad and Karbala and another 44 died in a single incident in Karbala in 2005.
After midday, thousands of pilgrims started running towards the Hussein shrine chanting slogans "Hussein Hussein! We will not forget you.''
The run, which started from the eastern gate of Karbala towards the shrine, marked the closing ritual of the ceremony, after which the devotees began to disperse.
The police struggled to control the crowd to make way for the running devotees amid fears of a possible stampede.
Tayi said the ceremony went off peacefully but for a sole rocket attack carried out by rebels on the western side of the town.
"There were no casualties as the rocket fell on an open farm at around 11:35 a.m. We have rounded up a few Iraqi suspects," Tayi said.
Hundreds of Shiite pilgrims from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan also participated in processions that marched peacefully toward the Hussein mausoleum.
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Citation: "Secular faction joins Iraq's Sunni alliance," The Daily Star, Lebanon, 10 February 2006.
Original URL: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/printable.asp?art_ID=22102&cat_ID=2
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