Karbala sees off Hakim

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Thousands of people have converged on the Shiite holy city of Karbala to bid farewell to the head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) Abdulaziz al-Haim, who died of an incurable disease on Wednesday. “The ceremonies to bid farewell to the SIIC chief Abdulaziz al-Hakim began this morning, with the participation of thousands of people, who arrived in the city last night or during an early hour this morning,” Karbala’s Governor Amal al-Din al-Hir, told Iraqi News. On Friday (Aug. 28), an official farewell ceremony began in Baghdad starting from Baghdad international airport to Bratha mosque. Informed sources said the body would be flown from Baghdad to Karbala and then to Najaf, where he would be buried. President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as well as several ministers and a number of Arab and foreign ambassadors received the body at the airport. Hakim passed away after physicians failed to treat a recent serious deterioration in his health. Hakim is the leader of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which comprises major Shiite parties. The bloc is the largest in the Iraqi parliament after it won the 2005 elections with 128 out of a total 275 seats. He also spearheaded the SIIC after the assassination of his brother Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim in August 2003. A powerful and one of the most prominent Shiite political figures in Iraq, Hakim was in charge of the political affairs of the SIIC’s precursor Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He also led the SCIRI delegation to Washington during the meetings held by the Iraqi opposition groups to discuss the means to unseat the Baath regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Hakim returned to Iraq nearly one month after the Baath regime was deposed. He became a member of the U.S.-installed Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in December 2003. The SIIC has been calling for adopting a federal system for Iraq, that is the establishment of federal provinces in Iraq to help run the country and accelerate its development process. This vision brought the SIIC closer to the Kurds who had struck an alliance with it. The SIIC has played a key role in the country’s political process and retained some important portfolios in the government, in addition to the vice president post, after the 2005 elections. SS (I) 1