Mustaqbal Slams Qassem Remarks as 'Desperate, Futile'

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday described the latest remarks by Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem as “a desperate, futile attempt at accusing others of” his party’s own deeds.

Qassem accused Sunday the Mustaqbal movement of being a “militia,” saying that it does not want to recognize Lebanon as a country of diverse sects.

“It is a militia in every sense of the word. It possesses arms and they used them in Tripoli, Beirut and other areas. It turned to violence when the government’s decisions did not please it,” Qassem said.

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the Mustaqbal bloc described Hizbullah number two’s remarks as “false accusations.”

“These false accusations represent a barefaced attempt by the ‘party of weapons’, which believes that they might lead to reducing the level of media and political pressure on the party, which has been (recently) indicted” by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.

On a separate note, the bloc wondered whether “the incorrect information voiced by the interior minister (Marwan Charbel) concerning the Antelias blast were the result of a personal analysis or an attempt to provide a cover-up for the culprits.”