Sunni VP calls for boosting national unity among Iraqi denominations

BAGHDAD, Sept.21 (Iraqi News) Iraq’s vice president Tareq al-Hashemi on Sunday called for boosting the national unity among Iraqi denominations in a first visit by a high level Sunni politician to a Shiite mosque. VP al-Hashemi visited Shiite al-Khulani mosque in central Baghdad, observing united prayers and breakfasting, in a bid to show religious unity in a country suffering from grinding years of sectarian war since the bombing of golden-domes Shiite shrine in Samarra in February 2006. “The visit aims at bolsering up Iraqi people ranks and to send a message that Iraqis are united glossing over all ethnic or sectarian divisions,”VP al-Hashemi told IraqiNews.com-Voices of Iraq(Iraqi News). Tareq al-Hashemi is the head of the Sunni Iraqi Isalmic party(IIP), a major component of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the main Sunni bloc in parliament, which holds 38 out of the parliament’s total 275 seats. Chief of the Shiite endowment in Iraq Said Hashemi’s visit comes “to boost the national reconciliation project and to show support for poor families”. AM(S)    68