IAF’s Bin Arshid Lashes out at Jordanian Gov’t, Calls for Dialogue

IAF’s Bin Arshid Lashes out at Jordanian Gov’t, Calls for Dialogue

The secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front Party (IAF) in Jordan, Zaki Bin Arshid, lashed out at the Jordanian Prime Minister, Maarouf Al Bakhit, for his statements in which he accused the Islamic movement of sowing seeds of sedition in the country .
 
Bin Arshid saw that these groundless and unjustified accusations only add to current political tensions in the Jordanian arena .
 
Jordanian Prime Minister, Maarouf Al Bakhit, accused the Muslim Brotherhood group and its political wing, the Islamic Action Front, accusing them of trying to spreading distrust towards the country and that they want lead Jordan to bad consequences.
 
Bin Arshid said in a statement to Ikhwanweb:” The Prime Minister tried- with this unjustified attack and unacceptable discourse which is totally divorced from Jordanian official traditions- to seek reasons to justify the failure and crisis that the government is currently facing. He found that the appropriate outlet is to attack the Islamic movement .”
 
Bin Arshid added ” The Jordanian PM”s statements reflect the real depth of the crisis facing the government after it rigged the municipal election held last Tuesday, July, 31st, 2007.
 
“The government is confronting not only the Islamic movement. It failed to run national files,. It failed to provide clean and healthy water for Jordanian citizens. Jordan is facing now the so called “Al-Manshia scandal” . Al-Manshiya is a Jordanian village in which about 1500 Jordanian citizens were poisoned because the drinking water is polluted.”
 
“The government reaction raised many eyebrows. It launched a fierce battle that provoked all sections of the Jordanian society, including parties, syndicates and citizens. Prisoners are currently facing systematic tortures on a daily basis. Therefore the government wanted to narrow the confrontation and direct it to another side, to escape from confronting this real problem or seeing its real reasons. So the government wanted to unjustly blame the Islamic movement for this.”
 
Bin Arshid added that:” The government should faces its problems more seriously and should search for the real reasons behind these tensions. The government has confronted Islamic movement, Jordanian citizens and tribes. The tensions have reached their peak. We are currently trying to pacify these tensions because we are concerned with the security and interests of our homeland.”
 
Bin Arshid stressed that the Muslim Brotherhood doesn”t escalated rhetoric because the tensions are already aggravated. We are currently seeking a partner in the government to cooperate with him to solve the crises facing the country. However, the government isn”t apparently seeking any political partner. It seeks instead followers who will forget why they live when they accept to play such a role.”
Asked about the main reason behind the tension of the current relation between the Muslim brotherhood and the government, Bin Arshid said:” As we have just mentioned,  the direct reason is that the government seeks followers, not political partner. Add to this the government”s difference with the other policies, in local, regional and international levels. This is due to some Jordanian political attitudes which are leaning to the US administration.”
 
“The government wanted to narrow the problem as lying in the Islamic movement.”.
 
Bin Arshid talked about the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, saying:” The Islamic movement is a well-known institutional movement that cares for interests of the country. Due to its worries about the rise of the Islamic movement, the government wanted to follow US policies through attempting to give a preemptive strike to get rid of this Islamic movement, or even alienating some of those assuming key positions in the government.”
 
It is worth mentioning that Jordanian Prime Minister, Maarouf Al Bakhit, demanded, in an interview with Aljazeera, those he called Muslim Brotherhood”s wise men to correct situations and restore power from ” juniors”  who tackle big issues.”
 
Zaki Bin Arshid denounced these statements, saying:” We shouldn”t reply to such terms which shouldn”t be uttered by a Prime Minister. The movement has no juniors and it has not such a division of wise men and mad men. All members of the Islamic movement who tackle the nation”s problems, bear concerns and aspirations of the Jordanian people are all wise men.”
 
” The Islamic work is based on institutions. No one is allowed to take individual decisions. There are policies and decisions with which all members are committed.”
 
Zaki Bin Arshid spoke about the view of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan for solving the current tension, saying:” The solution lies in dialogue. The government”s  most serious problem is that it wants to impose orders. It doesn”t allow views from others. It wants yes men. If this government is not qualified for conducting a dialogue and a national agreement with all sections of the society, our homeland is bigger than the governments, parties and every thing .”
 
“Hereby, any one blocking the dialogue, must be held accountable for this stage, or they should give way for another government that can conduct a national dialogue to end escalation.”
 
Bin Arshid said” The government tries through these accusations to move the crisis and its problems to other parties, instead of acknowledging its mistakes. We are actually seeking a free democratic and fair Jordan in which all people participate in making the future .”