According to APF Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warned on Thursday that the country faces dire consequences including possible “partition” if real reform is not carried out.
Grand Ayatollah Sistani, who is revered by millions and has unmatched prestige in Iraq, has made several calls for reforms this month that have played a major role in a wide-ranging anti-corruption drive by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
“Today, if true reform is not realised by fighting corruption without mercy and realising social justice on different levels, it is expected that circumstances will become worse than before,” Sistani said in a written response from his office to questions from AFP.
Iraq could be “dragged to… partition and the like, God forbid,” he said.
It was Ayatollah Sistani’s most direct warning yet on the possible consequences if reforms he has advocated are not carried out.
Ayatollah Sistani said that corruption had already cost Iraq dearly in the conflict with the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran around a third of the country last year.
Without rampant corruption, especially in the security forces, and misuse of power by top officials, “the Daesh terrorist organisation would not have been able to control a large part of the territory of Iraq,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadist group.
– Number of guards slashed –
Many Iraqi politicians, Sistani said, “did not take the overall interest of the Iraqi people into consideration, and were instead concerned with their personal interests, and factional, sectarian and ethnic” concerns.
Abadi rolled out a reform programme this month in response to popular pressure from weeks of protests against rampant corruption and abysmal services, and a call from Sistani for drastic change.
Parliament approved Abadi’s plan along with additional measures, but a major gap remains between announcements and implementation.
Abadi moved ahead with his reform drive on Thursday, ordering “major cuts in the number of personal guards for officials and the presidencies and others, reaching up to 90 percent,” his office said in a statement.
He also ordered “the abolition of the special protection regiments belonging to individuals and their return to the defence and interior ministries,” the statement said, referring to large guard units of some senior officials.
