Ayt. Sistani calls on premier to avoid promoting sectarianism in new national guard

Rasa - Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has called upon the prime minister to create a national security force that doesn't promote sectarianism at a time of heightened tensions between ethnic and religious groups.

News ID: 1299

Date: 04 October 2014 - 11:48

RNA – Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric Ayatollah Seyed Ali al-Sistani has reportedly called upon the prime minister to create a national security force that doesn't promote sectarianism at a time of heightened tensions between ethnic and religious groups.

The national guard, proposed by Iraq's new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, should be a force of "patriotism and purity" to help pull the country out of the crisis, the reclusive al-Sistani said in his Friday sermon delivered by his spokesman Abdul Mehdi Karbalaie in the city of Karbala.

According to Fox News, Al-Sistani called upon al-Abadi to select a defense and interior minister following the Islamic Eid al-Adha holiday next week.

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