By Ahmad Jamal, Xinhua
Baghdad : A decision by Iraq’s radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to extend a six-month ceasefire would facilitate his approach in the country’s political process, Iraqi politicians and analysts said on Saturday.
“Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered that the activities of the Mahdi Army will be suspended for another six months,” Hazim al-Araji, a top aide for Sadr, read out the Sadr statement during the ceremony of Friday prayer in Kadhimiyah neighborhood in northern Baghdad.
The same declaration to freeze the Mahdi Army militia had earlier been sent to all Sadr offices to be read during ceremonies of Friday’s weekly prayers in Shiite mosques all over the country.
The decision came as Iraq has seen some political progress over the past months and is expecting provincial elections planned for this fall.
“This declaration will give Muqtada al-Sadr the needed time for political gains, such as a better role in the country’s political process,” Salam al-Shamma, a senior Iraqi journalist, told Xinhua.
Sadr’s party holds 30 seats in the parliament, second only to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC). His opposition to the presence of foreign military in Iraq and the fierce combat between his military wing and the U.S. troops once strengthened his political image.
Sadr, however, ordered a six-month ceasefire last August after his militia was accused of involving in a bloody clash with security troops during a pilgrimage in the holy city of Barbala.
Reports have said that he has lost control of some defiant commanders, whose activities could damage the reputation of his bloc and incur suppression from the U.S. troops and the Iraqi security forces, a considerable part of which comprise members of his Shiite rival SIIC.
“Sadr wants to promote better relations with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Dawa Party to establish a new powerful Shiite political bloc to replace the current leading parliamentary bloc headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim,” Shamma said.
Hakim is the leader of the SIIC and the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), an umbrella Shiite political bloc in the Iraqi parliament.
“Although the SIIC and Sadr movement are both Shiite parties, Sadr has realized that Hakim is trying to kick him and his Mahdi Army out of the political power,” Shamma said.
The two powerful parties have been vying for control in the Shiite-dominated south.
“He also wanted to use the new period of lull to get rid of those criminal activists who infiltrated in his Mahdi Army,” Shamma said.
Ibrahim al-Amiri, an analyst in Baghdad University said that “the decision is wise and Sadr has just kicked the ball in the field of the government and the other political parties.”
The U.S. military, for its part, immediately issued a statement to endorse Sadr’s move.
“This extension of his August 2007 pledge of honor to halt attacks is an important commitment that can broadly contribute to further improvements in security for all Iraqi citizens,” said the statement.
The first six-month truce is cited by the U.S. as one of the three major contributors to recent security pickup. The other two are the surge of American troops and the uprising of Iraq’s Sunnis against al-Qaida.
The U.S. military said that Sadr’s prolonged commitment will also foster a better opportunity for national reconciliation and allow the coalition and Iraqi security forces to focus more intensively on al-Qaida terrorists, adding it is open to a dialogue with the Sadrists.
Hassan al-Senied, a Shiite lawmaker said that the extension of ceasefire was “strategic, important and responsible act.”
“Providing security and removing armed people from the streets will provide safe atmosphere for the politicians to deliver better performance,” he said, adding that “such a move will bring Sadr’s party closer to other political parties.”