LONDON — The Shi’ite cleric who is leading an uprising against the U.S.-led coalition in southern Iraq has come under pressure after an Iranian ayatollah, considered to be his mentor, urged restraint and asked that public buildings be handed over to Iraqi police.
Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr’s militant supporters overran several cities in southern Iraq this week, taking control of police stations and municipal buildings. Coalition forces yesterday said they had reasserted control over most of the city of Kut.
Meanwhile, Shi’ite members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council are also believed to be putting pressure on the 30-year-old cleric to compromise.
According to Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency, Grand Ayatollah Kazem al-Husseini al-Hairi, a respected Shi’ite leader, issued a statement in the holy Shi’ite city of Qom urging that the Iraqi people “should exercise vigilance and not to give [any] pretext to the enemy.”
All sides “should observe patience and wisdom in behavior and consult with the experienced and expert people before taking action,” he said.
“All are responsible before God and history,” he said.
Ayatollah al-Hairi said government buildings are public property, which should be protected by Iraqi police.
Coalition-appointed Iraqi police stood by in Najaf, Karbala, Kut and many southern cities as Sheik al-Sadr’s Mahdi’s Army occupied city halls and police stations. In Kut, they even drove out Ukrainian troops earlier this week. Yesterday, the U.S. military reclaimed most of the city after bombing Sheik al-Sadr’s office there.
Ayatollah al-Hairi looked after Sheik al-Sadr during his exile in Iran after his father, a highly respected Shi’ite ayatollah in Iraq, and two brothers were murdered by the Saddam Hussein regime in February 1999.
The ayatollah demanded that the United Nations and humanitarian bodies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross form a commission to apportion blame for the latest outbreak of violence in Iraq.
The ayatollah also attacked the U.S.-led coalition for its tough responses and the loss of life.
Meanwhile, two members of the 24-member Governing Council have confirmed that they are seeking a dialogue with Sheik al-Sadr to end the uprising.
Council member Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, who leads the biggest Shi’ite political movement, the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said he had sent a three-man team to negotiate with Sheik al-Sadr and that “progress is being made.”
“We hope that the current negotiations, which will go on in the next days, will lead the country to tranquility,” Mr. al-Hakim told the Iranian news agency.
Adnan Pachachi, also a member of the Governing Council, acknowledged that negotiations with the cleric were underway and made a surprising promise.
“We pledge to respect his honor and his security,” said Mr. Pachachi, a generally pro-American moderate.
Sources said Sheik al-Sadr was offered a seat on the Governing Council but he turned it down. However, there has been no confirmation from the coalition or the Governing Council that any such offer was made, or rejected.
Inside Iran, there was careful but positive support for Sheik al-Sadr’s actions.
Its still-influential former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran that Sheik al-Sadr’s militia were “heroic” for rising up against the U.S. occupation in Iraq.
In an apparent reference to the Sunni resistance in Fallujah and Ramadi west of Baghdad, Mr. Rafsanjani said, “Contrary to these terrorist groups in Iraq, there are powerful bodies which contribute to the security of that nation.”
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