Mashhadani says formed bloc

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Resigned Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadadni revealed on Sunday that he formed the National Dialogue Bloc, which encompasses three parliamentary groups, to enter the coming elections. “The NDC, the National Dialogue Front (NDF) and the National Democratic Grouping have unified into a new bloc to enter the coming parliamentary elections away from partisanship and sectarianism,” Mashhadani said in a press conference in Baghdad attended by members of the three blocs. “The new bloc was formed due to the very critical and complicated circumstances Iraq is going through. It will be the nucleus for a comprehensive wide national fabric that is open to all other parliamentary powers,” he added. In the same conference, Saleh al-Motlak of the Sunni NDF bloc said sectarian approaches have proved a failure in running the country. “We call to form a parliamentary committee to investigate the accusations against lawmaker Mohammed al-Dayni. If these accusations proved correct, the NDF will stand with the government against him (Dayni),” said Motlak, adding Dayni has exited the front a year ago. Maj. General Qassem Atta, the spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC), had said a few days ago that Dayni has escaped to an unknown place after he was stripped of parliamentary immunity, asking the citizens to report him to the authorities if they have information about his whereabouts. Atta said the security agencies are still searching for Dayni. The Iraqi Parliament had stripped Dayni of immunity after accusations by the Iraqi interior ministry against him. AmR (S)/SR 1