$100m marriage plan marks peace initiative

Baghdad: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has formed a special team in the cabinet to support and encourage marriages between Sunnis and Shiites.

He has set aside a budget about $100 million for this purpose, a senior official in Baghdad told Gulf News.

He said Al Maliki believes this step will enhance the current security situation. The prime minister supports marriages between tribal notables and the sons of leaders of major political parties, along with those of leaders of the security and military services, to eradicate sectarianism in Iraq.

"Clerics strongly support this approach and we will spread the message through mosques to urge youth to marry Sunnis and Shiites. This is one of the most important means of national defence to prevent the return of sectarian violence," Saleh Al Haideri, the chief of the Shiite Waquf, told Gulf News.

Al Qaida has issued several fatwas prevent the marriage of Sunnis to Shiites. The supreme Shiite authority in the city of Najaf, Ali Al Sistani, responded at the time by emphasising the importance of such marriages.

"We have established a special assembly in the Sunni Islamic Party, led by Tarek Al Hashemi, to support marriage between Sunnis and Shiites. We believe this solution is an effective way to combat sectarianism in state institutions," Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Qaysi told Gulf News.

Till 2003, cases of marriage between Sunnis and Shiites were limited and these did not help in confronting the sectarian violence in Baghdad in 2005 and 2006.

Abdul Zahra Khalidi, a political researcher, told Gulf News: "Marriages between Sunnis and Shiites took place in the past as well, but was limited to ordinary persons in society. Therefore, such cases did not stand against the Al Qaida propaganda in the past years. I believe Al Maliki realised that and now he wants to take the initiative politically - the state will have a policy to confront sectarianism through marriages between communities."

The Iraqi government offers incentives for marriage between Sunnis and Shiites, including jobs, loans for housing and private projects and even bears the cost for honeymooning in northern Iraq or overseas.

"I got a marriage gift from the government and a free trip for a week's honeymoon in Egypt two months ago. But what is most important is that the state has provided suitable jobs for me and my wife. I am a graduate in mechanical engineering and my wife is an electrical engineer. A job is the guarantee for success of this marriage and facing practical issues in life," Faiz Talib, who recently celebrated a mixed marriage, told Gulf News.