Miqati: Cabinet Could Discuss Fate of Arab Democratic Party ahead of Judicial Verdict
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Tuesday that the government could look into the fate of the Arab Democratic Party ahead of the judicial verdict against the suspects in the twin bombings that targeted the northern city of Tripoli.
“Nothing prevents head of the Arab Democratic Party ex-MP Ali Eid from appearing before the judiciary as he is denying any ties with Ahmed Merhi,” Miqati said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr issued on Monday a search and investigation warrant against Eid a week after the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau summoned Eid to question his alleged involvement in the August twin bombings in Tripoli.
The northern leader said he was willing to appear before any security agency except for the Intelligence Bureau.
Eid's driver Ahmed Mohammed Ali is being held by the Intelligence Bureau on charges of smuggling to Syria Merhi, one of the main suspects in the bombings against al-Taqwa and al-Salam mosques in Tripoli on August 23.
“These accusations don't target the Alawite sect... We are working on halting all sectarian incitement,” Miqati told the newspaper.
He stressed that calm should be restored in Tripoli, hailing the ongoing cooperation between the Lebanese army and the Internal Security Forces.
Miqati also revealed that he will file a request for the parliament to hold a session set to explaining the tasks that could be carried out by a caretaker cabinet.
“I am not seeking to amend the constitution... Several matters require the approval of the cabinet amid the exceptional conditions that Lebanon is passing through and the sharp rift between the political foes over the formation of a new cabinet,” Miqati added.
Endeavors are ongoing to end the cabinet deadlock amid reports that President Michel Suleiman insists on forming it ahead of the Independence Day on November 22 based on any distribution of portfolios as long as the rival parties agree.
Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam continuously said that conditions and counter-conditions set by the rival sides have brought his efforts to form a cabinet to a stalemate.
Since his appointment to form a cabinet in April, Salam has been seeking the formation of a 24-member cabinet in which the March 8, March 14 and centrists camps would each get eight ministers.
However, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah expressed support to Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's proposal to form a new cabinet in which the March 8 and 14 alliances would get nine ministers each and six ministers would be given to the centrists – Suleiman, Salam and Jumblat.
This formula prevents a certain party from controlling the government by giving veto power to Hizbullah and its team and another veto power to March 14, he said.
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