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Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, May 18, 2017
Rouhani warns Revolutionary Guards not to meddle in Iran election
Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani inspects the honour guard during a welcoming
ceremony upon his arrival at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow,
Russia March 27, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Files
President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday urged Iran's powerful
Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia under its control not to
meddle in Friday's presidential election, in a rare warning that
underscored rising political tensions.
The Guards, who oversee an economic empire worth billions of dollars,
are seldom criticised in public, but the pragmatist Rouhani is locked in
an unexpectedly tight race against hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who
is believed to have their support.
"We just have one request: for the Basij and the Revolutionary Guards to
stay in their own place for their own work," Rouhani said in a campaign
speech in the city of Mashad, according to the Iranian Labour News
Agency (ILNA).
Rouhani reinforced his appeal by quoting the late Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, who he said had warned the
armed forces against interfering in politics.
Suspicions that the Guards and Basij falsified election results in
favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led to nationwide protests in 2009. Dozens
of people were killed and hundreds were arrested, according to human
rights groups, in the largest unrest in the history of the Islamic
Republic.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran,
said on Wednesday that maintaining security was a top concern for the
election. He also denounced the heated rhetoric of the campaign as
"unworthy", in a thinly-veiled rebuke of Rouhani, who is seeking a
second four-year term.
ACCUSATIONS
Rouhani, 68, and Raisi, a 56-year-old protege of the supreme leader,
have traded charges of graft and brutality on live television with an
open vehemence unseen in the near-40-year history of the Islamic
Republic.
Raisi has accused Rouhani of being corrupt and of mismanaging the
economy. Rouhani, who wants to open up Iran to the West and ease social
restrictions within the country, has responded by accusing Raisi, who
served on the judiciary for several years, of human rights violations.
Both men deny the other's accusations.
Raisi developed a close relationship with senior members of the
Revolutionary Guards while at the judiciary and has their backing,
according to Mohsen Sazegara, a founding member of the Revolutionary
Guards who is now a U.S.-based dissident.
"Raisi is the Revolutionary Guards' candidate," he said.
The Guards are looking beyond Friday's election and see Raisi as a
possible candidate to be the next supreme leader, analysts say.
Although Khamenei, 77, is guarded about his political preferences, he
also appears to back Raisi both as a presidential candidate and possible
successor.
(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Gareth Jones)