BAGHDAD, May 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Iraq’s Sunnis have formed an alliance of religious, political and social groups to streamline their political participation and unify the ranks of all Sunnis, whether Arabs, Turkomans or Kurds.

“After marathon talks and several brainstorming meetings, we have come to the conclusion that it is high time we formed this alliance,” Adnan Al-Deleimi, the chairman of the Sunni Waqfs body, told the second Sunni Congress on Saturday, May 22.

“This alliance will be made up of Sunnis of different backgrounds, whether seculars, Islamists, tribesmen, independent, retired officers or professors,” he said.

The congress, themed “For Iraq’s Unity and Stability,” brought together some 100 figures representing the Sunni mosaic in addition to foreign diplomats and a representative of the Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Deleimi said the alliance primarily constitutes a “political umbrella group” for the Sunni community in Iraq.

“It will be responsible for representing the Sunnis in the country’s political process in the days to come after they had opted for boycotting the January 31 election, which left them largely marginalized at the political and parliamentary levels,” he opined.

Main Sunni powers, along with other political groups, shunned the election, leaving Shiites and Kurds dominating the 275-member assembly.

Sunnis running as independents or members of other parties won only 17 seats in the parliament.

In the new cabinet line-up of Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, Sunnis have been given eight portfolios in addition to a deputy prime minister post held by Abed Motlaq Al-Juburi.

Hashem Ashibli, a Sunni named human rights minister, immediately resigned, saying he was not consulted by Al-Jaafari. A replacement has not yet been appointed.

“The election results have indeed made a ground-shaking effect on the Sunni political mindset as Sunni powers agreed on the importance of taking part in the political process to preserve Iraq’s identity, independence, unity, sovereignty, and to deter those who want to sideline or underestimate the Sunni role,” Deleimi said.

He added that the new Sunni alliance will “adopt all legal means to restore our rights, which cannot be achieved unless we, Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Turkomans, act in unison and form a bedrock for Iraq’s unity irrespective of ethnicity, racism and the quota system.”

The main Sunni political Islamic Party further gave the new alliance the thumbs-up as a body aimed at enhancing national unity in Iraq.

“Make no mistake, this alliance is not aimed at entrenching ethnicity,” Party Secretary General Tareq Al-Hashimi said. “But we extend our hands to our Iraqi brothers and invite them to join forces.”

The influential Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) reiterated support to closing Sunni ranks.

“We are trying our best to create a secure, stable and unified Iraq,” AMS representative Mekki Hussein Al-Kubeisi told the convention.

The AMS has not yet made public its stance on the new all-inclusive body.

The Sunni powers have further demanded the government set up an independent judicial committee to investigate the killing and torture of Sunni detainees.

They condemned the latest string of raids on mosques, the assassinations and arrests of Sunni imams and worshippers.

“We roundly reject targeting any community, Sunni and Shiite mosques, and churches,” read the convention’s declaration.

It further called for sacking Interior Minister Bayan Baqer Solagh for the involvement of his men in anti-Sunni killings.

The unprecedented gathering came one day after Sunni leaders declared a three-day closure of Baghdad’s mosques to protest the assassinations, torture and arrests of Sunni preachers and worshipers “by official and semi-official bodies.”

The move was prompted by a series of attacks last week on Sunni mosques in Baghdad, blamed on the Shiite Badr Brigades militias, the military wing of SCIRI.

The militia was further accused of abducting and killing worshipers and imams, stoking fears of sectarian strife that could slide towards civil war.