WASHINGTON, Sept 1: Religion continues to have an influence on Iraqi politics as is evident from the truce Ayatollah Sistani arranged last week, says UN secretary general's special representative for Iraq.
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, who was selected in July to represent the United Nations in Iraq, also believes that all opposition forces in Iraq, including rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, will have to be included in the talks for seeking a political end to the Iraqi crisis.
In an exclusive interview to Dawn, Mr Qazi sought to dispel the impression that the United States was reluctant to let the United Nations participate in the political process in Iraq.
"I don't feel any restrictions," said Mr Qazi who returned to Washington this week after his first visit to Baghdad where he attended a national conference for reconciliation besides meeting Iraqi officials, opposition leaders, clerics and others.
"It was a very important visit that allowed me to meet those who represent the Iraqi people and learn directly from them what they want," said Mr Qazi who represented Pakistan in Washington from September 2002 to July 2004 before being sent to Iraq.
"And I can say with confidence that they all want peace. All Iraqis realize their country is rich, both in oil and agriculture, and they have a great future," he said.
"Life and death are in Allah's hands," said the 62-year diplomat when asked how he felt working in a country where the UN headquarters was bombed last year, killing his predecessor, Sergio Veira De Melo, and 22 other colleagues.
Diplomatic observers say that since Mr Qazi is a Muslim and a Pashtun, his success in Iraq would also send a positive signal to the Pashtuns, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and help pacify a group which still is a cause of worries for the policy makers in Washington.
Mr Qazi says that being a Muslim and from the greater Middle East region helps "but I do not want to emphasize the point. I represent the United Nations and that's more important.
"People of Iraq know the United Nations and trust it and that's more helpful." Upon his selection, Qazi faced two sets of critics, those opposed to the selection of a Muslim for a sensitive mission and some Muslims who said he was going to Baghdad to promote US interests.
"I am not going there to promote anybody's interest. My assignment is very clear and has been defined in the latest resolution on Iraq (adopted two months ago). It is to promote peace and reconciliation, to hold free and fair elections by January next year and to help form a constitution for Iraq," he said.
Soon after the war, the United States was reluctant to give the United Nations a political role in Iraq. Instead policy makers in Washington insisted that they would choose the future rulers of Iraq in consultation with the Iraqi people.
But later, the United States involved a senior UN diplomat, former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, in the political process. He also played a key consultative role in the formation of the interim Iraqi government that took charge in Iraq two months.
US PRESENCE: Asked if he felt restricted by US presence in Iraq, Mr Qazi said: "I don't have any such feeling. They want us to play a very effective role in implementing the resolution and they voted for the resolution too. It was adopted fifteen to zero."
His main concern was the security situation, which he said was "still a big restriction, other than that I don't see any restrictions." Talking about security arrangements for the UN mission in Iraq, Mr Qazi said the UN headquarters was in the international zone, which is reasonably well protected, "but the conditions in Baghdad are not entirely safe."
He said the United Nations still had a small international staff in Baghdad while most UN agencies operated from neighbouring Kuwait and Jordan. "We intend to expand our presence to other cities, security permitting," he said.
On several occasions during the interview Mr Qazi emphasized the importance of security for stabilizing Iraq. "The security situation is and will be very, very important. It determines how much we can do, how many people we can bring in to help."
He agreed that it would have helped had the international community succeeded in setting up a force for protecting the UN mission in Iraq. "The Security Council resolution 1546 calls for such a force but nothing has happened as yet. These are sovereign decisions of sovereign governments."
He then explained that the security situation also "plays a role" in the reluctance of the international community to setup a force for Iraq. "It's the overall determinant of every thing, what one can do and what one cannot," said Mr Qazi.
He said although he was Pakistan's ambassador to Washington before his appointment to this job, "Pakistan never promised that it would send troops to Iraq in return for my appointment."
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