Hakeem: Bridges still stretched with Iraqiya

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakeem, the head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), said on Friday that bridges are still stretched with al-Iraqiya bloc while in the process of building alliances with the Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) and Kurdistan Alliance (KA). Hakeem, also the leader of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) bloc, called on all political blocs to lower the ceilings of their demands and sit at a roundtable to discuss ways to accelerate the formation of a government. “Consultations are underway inside the INA to forge optimal stances and consider steps that would help lead to formation of a new government,” Hakeem told a gathering of Feyli Kurds at al-Mansour Hotel in Baghdad on Friday. Feylis are a group of Shiite Kurds who had been the target for organized displacement to Iran during the 1980s on the pretext that they belong to Iran. The former regime had confiscated their property, money and stores. “When we speak of a national partnership then we have to lay a roadmap for national bilateral, trilateral and quadrilateral alliances, which are the only the outcome of such meetings, contacts and views,” said Hakeem. AmR (P) 1