AYATOLLAH HAKIM ARRIVED IN BASRA TO A TRIUMPHANT WELCOME
BASRA (Iraq) 10 May. (IPS) Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, the leader of
the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI) returned to Iraq
on Saturday after two decades in exile, greeted in Basra by hundreds of
thousands of cheering supporters and followers chanting "Yes, yes, Islam!
Yes, yes, Hakim!".
Senior Sunni religious leaders, high-ranking Kurdish personalities as well as many Shi’ite clerics, some of them returned in the past month, led by a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Arab Shi’as highest religious authority were among those who warmly greeted the Ayatollah.
The 63 years-old cleric, who wants to become Iraqi Shi’a community’s most prominent religious leader, had left Tehran on Friday for his native country after telling hundred of worshippers in Teheran that Islam commands the future of Iraq.
"We were Iran's guests for 23 years. Now, we thank the Iranian nation and its elite Revolutionary Guards for their hospitality'', Mr. al-Hakim told hundreds of worshippers, many of them Iraqi expatriates, referring to the Iranian ayatollahs Praetorian Guard that trained, armed and partially financed the SAIRI’s 15.000 to 30.000 strong military wing of "Badr Brigade".
"The future of Iraq belongs to Islam. And making efforts to preserve Iraq's independence is our key challenge''.
Mr. Hakim had left Tehran for Basra, a Shi’a stronghold on the other side of the border river of Shat ol Arab (Arvand Rood, in Farsi), via Ahvaz, the capital city of the Iranian oil-rich province of Khoozestan, escorted by some 100 armed men of the Brigade.
Mr. al-Hakim said SAIRI seeks to realise the will of the Iraqi people, try to rebuild the country and establish good relations with our neighbours'', but did not emphasised.
Al-Hakim and his delegation had entered Iraq from the border point Shalamcheh early this morning, watched closely by British and American soldiers.
Top officials of SAIRI likened the return of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer to that of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the founder of the Islamic Republic, who returned to Iran from 15 years in exile, most of it spent in Najaf.
Hojjatoleslam Mohsen al-Hakim, a spokesman for the SAIRI said Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer "could be a new Ayatollah Khomeini but it largely depends on how the Iraqi people will welcome him''.
"We expect that a glorious and dignified welcome awaits Ayatollah al-Hakim'', he said.
But Iranian analysts see few comparisons between Iraq and Iran, or between al-Hakim and Khomeini.
"Khomeini was Iran's unrivalled figure and a charismatic leader loved by all Iranians, but al-Hakim is not Iraq's only leader. There are several key figures representing Iraq's population and al-Hakim is only one of them'', Taha Hashemi, a moderate Iranian cleric close to the ruling conservatives told the American news agency "Associated Press", referring to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraqi and Arab Shi’a’s highest religious authority.
However, like Ayatollah Khomeini who had organised the clerics-led opposition to the former Iranian Monarch from Najaf in Iraq, Ayatollah Hakim was directing the most serious challenge to the ruthless rule of the now toppled Saddam Hoseyn, who had forced him into exile and assassinated five brothers and up to 50 relatives, from Tehran.
His return to Iraq was carefully prepared by his younger brother, Hojjatoleslam Abdolaziz al-Hakim, the commander of the Badr, who had returned to Baghdad a month ago, taking an active part in the formation of a provisory post-Saddam government under American control.
The Bush administration is opposed to any Iranian-style theocracy taking control in Iraq, and Washington has accused Tehran of meddling in Iraqi affairs.
Iran said it was neither seeking "friction" with America over Iraq's future government nor pushing for an Iranian-style administration in Baghdad.
Iraq is about 60 percent Shi’ite, and a democratic vote might produce a conservative, Islamic-oriented government with close ties to Iran's historically anti-American Shi’ite clerics.
Aware of Western sensitivities to the prospect of a Khomeini-style Islamic revolution, SAIRI plays down its Iranian links and makes soothing noises that it intends to blend democracy with Islam in Iraq and to respect the rights of all religions.
"The Americans do not like religious leaders at all. In Mosul they picked a man who had nothing to do with religion, and in al-Kut there was a religious man who made sure there was no looting and they pulled him out." If the Americans sought to freeze out Ayatollah al-Hakim, he said, there will be chaos, great demonstrations", Hassanien al-Sayed Ali, one of the leading clerics at the Abbila mosque in Basra told the London Times. ENDS AYATOLLAH HAKIM RETURNED 10503