Miqati Says Truth and Justice Correlated, Vows Not to Remain Silent to ‘Smear Campaign’
Premier Najib Miqati said Monday that the truth in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and stability go hand in hand, stressing that it was his responsibility to preserve Lebanon’s stability.
In remarks to As Safir newspaper, Miqati said: “There is a correlation between the truth and stability.”
“Since day one of my appointment I am reiterating this equation to all the Lebanese out of the major national responsibility placed upon me,” he told the daily.
Miqati’s remarks came after the March 14 forces accused him of abandoning in the cabinet policy statement the demand to achieve justice in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination.
During a conference attended by the coalition’s leaders and politicians at the Bristol Hotel on Sunday, March 14 said Miqati should either announce his commitment to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon or step down.
“The protection of Lebanon and its stability is my responsibility and the truth is my responsibility as well,” the prime minister said. “Has anyone heard me say that I am against stability or resolution 1757?”
U.N. Security Council resolution 1757 has established the STL, which will try Hariri’s suspected assassins.
Miqati told As Safir that he would accept any “constructive and positive criticism,” saying parliamentary sessions aimed at discussing the cabinet policy statement starting Tuesday should turn into “beneficial” dialogue that would consolidate the confidence of Lebanese in their country.
The premier’s sources also told An Nahar daily that the March 14 statement was a “smear campaign.”
“Do they want the truth and justice or power?” the sources wondered. “Rather than following up the course of the indictment (in Hariri’s murder) as promised by Miqati, they are asking him to step down and quit so that they replace him.”
They warned that the prime minister will not remain silent to “unjust smear campaigns against him.”
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