Jumblat: I’ve Settled My Choices, No New Shift in My Political Course
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday stressed that there will be no “new shift” in his political alliances, in response to Tuesday’s remarks by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who said he had “heard that MP Jumblat has started to shift ground.”
“I have settled my choices and there will be no new shift in my political course,” Jumblat said in an interview with MTV.
Addressing the cabinet formation impasse, Jumblat warned of the “economic threats it poses to the country.”
The Druze leader stressed that he is coordinating his stances with Hizbullah, but called on the March 8 forces to “shoulder their responsibilities.”
“The economic fate of the country is more important than elections in Keserwan and Byblos,” Jumblat added, clearly hitting out at Aoun.
He also noted that his bloc will not take part in a June 8 controversial parliamentary legislative session called by Speaker Nabih Berri “unless it was dedicated for the discussion of a sole item – renewing the mandate of (Central Bank Governor Riad) Salameh.”
“The government should not be replaced by the parliament,” Jumblat added, reminding caretaker premier Saad Hariri that he is “the head of a caretaker cabinet, in addition to being the head of a political movement, and he should perform his duties.”
Jumblat has called for a “real implementation” of the decree issued recently by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on lifting the decades-old state of emergency in the unrest-hit country.
In his weekly column in his party’s mouthpiece al-Anbaa newspaper, Jumblat said “the release of all political prisoners … the abolishment of martial laws and the real implementation of the decree lifting the state of emergency … are apt to correct the course and build a new Syria that takes into account the people’s aspirations and their desire to live freely and with dignity.”
Jumblat noted that “holding accountable those behind the practices committed in Daraa and other places prepares the ground for rebuilding confidence and credibility between the state and the Syrian citizen, which have been majorly damaged over the past few months.”
Addressing Sunday’s bloodshed in the occupied Golan Heights in which Syrian state television said 23 people were killed and 350 wounded when Israeli troops shot at protesters marking Naksa Day, Jumblat said “what happened on the occupied Golan front proves that the Arab-Israeli conflict has not ended yet.”
The PSP leader stressed the need that “Syria be more immune in the face of the Israeli scheme, which wants to drag it along with other Arab states into chaos and sectarian conflicts, and consequently to undermine the defiance and resistance scheme.”
“Out of keenness on Syria and its stability, role and advanced position in the region in the face of Israeli occupation and schemes, we look forward for it to exit its current crisis towards a new era characterized by political, economic and social reform,” Jumblat added.
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