BAGHDAD, March 19: Iraq’s embattled Sunnis were of two minds on Saturday about joining the political process. The influential Committee of Muslim Scholars has been putting out feelers over its role in the drafting of a permanent constitution and has said that it would not oppose the participation of Sunnis in the next government. But it has not climbed down from its strong opposition to US troop presence. It even held a festival at its vast headquarters on Saturday honouring the “martyrs and prisoners of war” over the past two years.

“Our martyrs are shining stars in Iraq’s sky and our prisoners of war are models of fortitude,” read banners and posters at the entrance to the mosque.

The committee decided to skip a gathering of about 300 Sunni leaders called by the heir to Iraq’s former Hashemite monarchy, Sherif Ali bin Hussein, to urge members of the community to join the current political process.

“Sunnis have hurt themselves by staying out of the process,” said Sherif Ali. “We are being invited to join the political process, we think it is wise to respond to this call.”

The Iraqi royal ran in the January election without winning seats in the national assembly, which was inaugurated on Wednesday.

Shias and Kurds have been eager to carve a role for Sunnis in the next government, aware that the tenacious anti-US resistance is centred in Sunni-dominated areas like Mosul, Samarra and Al Anbar province.

Leaders of the Kurdish Alliance confirmed on Saturday that they have reached an agreement with the Shias over the principles of the next government and the thorny issue of the fate of the disputed northern oil city of Kirkuk and the Kurdish peshmerga militia.

Both sides have agreed that the issues will be dealt with in accordance with the interim laws passed under the previous US-led occupation.

“We, the two main lists, have agreed on the principles and the door is open now for the other lists,” said outgoing vice president and senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Ruj Shawis.

“We have now entered into the details of forming the government but we need a few more sessions to reach a definitive agreement.”

KDP leader Massoud Barzani met the other Kurdish chieftain, Jalal Talabani, in a resort outside the northern Kurdish town of Arbil.

“These talks will shape the destiny of the Kurdish people, so we have to discuss them with our other brothers in as much detail as possible,” said Mr Talabani.

He added that he would favour the participation of as many groupings as possible in the government, including Sunnis and a coalition headed by outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi.

A senior Shia negotiator, Jawad Maliki, said a proposal had been presented to Mr Allawi’s coalition and that an answer is expected on Sunday.

In a reminder of the daily bloodshed plaguing Iraq two years after the occupation, three policemen were killed and seven others badly wounded when a bomb exploded in Kirkuk as the funeral cortege of a comrade passed by. —AFP