Sadr: No Room for Militias in Iraq Anymore
On the eve of the new Iraqi parliament holding its inaugural meeting, head of the Sadrist movement, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr slammed pro-Iran militias, saying there was no room left for them in the country.
In a tweet, he said: "There is no room for sectarianism or racism. There is only room for a national majoritarian government in which the Shiite will defend the rights of the minority Sunnis and Kurds."
"The Kurd will defend the rights of the minority Sunnis and Shiites and the Sunni will defend the rights of the minority Shiites and Kurds," he stressed.
Moreover, he revealed that his movement has reached an agreement with the Sunni and Kurdish forces to form the largest bloc in parliament that will allow it to form a new government at the expense of his rival fellow Shiite forces in the "Coordination Framework."
"There is no room anymore for militias, as everyone will support the army, police and security forces," Sadr announced.
"Along with the people, today we declare that we say no to subjugation," he stated. "Our decision is Iraqi, Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish, Turkmen, Christian, Feyli, Shabak, Yazidi and Sabian: This is an Iraqi mosaic that is neither eastern, nor western."
On Friday, Sadr had declared that he will go ahead to form a national majoritarian government that includes representatives of Sunni Arabs - from the Taqadum party and Azm alliance - and Kurds, represented by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Masoud Barzani.