Shiite Coordination Framework targeting Iraqi people by rejecting emergency food bill: Sadr

"With this, neither a new majority government nor the current government can benefit or serve the people."

Sadrist Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr reading a statement at his headquarters in al-Hananah, Najaf, May 16, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan 24 TV screengrab)
Sadrist Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr reading a statement at his headquarters in al-Hananah, Najaf, May 16, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan 24 TV screengrab)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Sadrist Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr on Monday accused his Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF) rivals of targeting the Iraqi people by having the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court reject the Emergency Support for Food Security and Development draft bill. 

“I was not even a bit surprised by the SCF obstructing the formation of a majority government as those who belong to SCF do not exist without authority,” he said in a recorded video statement. 

“But has the insolence reached the point of disrupting the laws that benefit the people? With this, neither a new majority government nor the current government can benefit or serve the people,” he added. 

Sadr stated that the SCF targets the Iraqi people by having the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court reject the draft Emergency Support for Food Security and Development bill. 

“I swear by God they [SCF] are targeting the people and want to bring them down,” he said. “What is even more surprising is that the judiciary is keeping pace with the disgraceful actions of the SCF.” 

“Alas for them, the authority has blinded their eyes to the poverty and fear that the people suffer, the domination of militias, dependence, fears of normalization, epidemics, and corruption that filled the land of Iraq with thefts, kidnappings, and killings,” he stated. “Until Iraq’s politicians became an example to be followed with corruption and underworld, except for a few whose impact has faded and is still fading away.”

In a question posed to SCF leaders, Sadr asked, “If you find an excuse between you and God and between you and the people for delaying the formation of the government, what excuse do you find before God and the people for obstructing the people’s meal and their dignity?”

“If you do not fear God, then fear the wrath of the forbearing and the oppressed, for the oppressed will have a roar, you will not be safe from it, and there is no time for blood, and there is no escape from it,” he warned. 

Sadr reaffirmed that pressures would not make him ally with the SCF or form a consensus government with them. 

“Do you think your actions will compel us to ally with you? No, a thousand noes, we will not return Iraq to the square of quotas, corruption, and abhorrent consensus,” he said. 

“How long will corruption and consensus remain the master of the situation while the people are suffering and there is no savior?” he concluded.