Shafaq News/ The leader of Azm movement, Khamis al-Khanjar, lashed out at the Parliamentary order 39 issued by Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halboosi, citing many "violations" embedded within it.
Parliament Speaker al-Halboosi had ordered "transforming" the Parliamentary Committee for tribes and reconciliation to the Committee of "Uprooting Baath".
A press release of the Azm bloc said that the decision abuses Articles 135 and 104, which al-Halboosi claims that it is based upon.
"The Parliament Speaker ignored the subsequent amendments introduced into the internal system of the Parliament," Azm said.
The statement explained that Article 104 "does not exist" anymore after the Parliament voted on 10/11/2018 on merging multiple Committees into a single committee.
"It is a fallacy to issue an official parliamentary letter that includes titles of Committees that does not exist. There is nothing such as 'Parliamentary Committee for Reconciliation and Tribes'. In fact, we have a 'Committee for Tribes, Reconciliation, and Religious Affairs' as voted upon by the Parliament. Similarly, the 'Parliamentary Committee for Uprooting Baath' does not exist. However, we have the 'Committee for Reconciliation, Questioning, and Justice', on which Parliament voted upon on 15/10/2018."
"The Parliamentary Speaker does not possess the powers to neither establish nor abolish any of the Parliamentary Permanent Committees on which the council approved. Moreover, he does not have the powers to transfer members that the Parliament voted on charging them in a particular committee to another committee. Those are prerogative to the Parliament itself by the votes of its members. This letter worthless legally speaking."
Azm said that a "political purpose" instigated this decision, accusing the Parliament Speaker of "Abusing authority for personal and electoral goals" to target his rivals in the upcoming early elections on October 10, 2021".
The statement said that this letter holds back the Sunni forces by politicizing the issue and halting its transformation into a Judicial issue, stressing that it hinders the "National Dialogue" to which PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi invited the political forces in the country.
"Azm categorically refuses this letter. It is equivalent to nothingness because of the violations embedded in it," calling for a "political dialogue" to prevent "immoral abuse of authority for personal purposes that ousts the principle of equal opportunities, which is the basis of any fair and just elections".