BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Head of the National Alliance Ibrahim al-Jaafaro decided on Friday to postpone the deliberative meeting, scheduled today, until another time.

 

 

He attributed the decision to urgent obstacles which prevented politicians from taking part in the meeting.

 

 

The decision came a few hours after al-Iraqiya bloc announced that it will not participate in the meeting.

 

 

Thousands of Sunnis have been taking to the streets of Iraq for more than a week in protest against Maliki, whom they accuse of discriminating against their sect and being under the sway of their non-Arab Shi'ite neighbor Iran.

 

 

The incident has once more threatened to plunge a delicate power-sharing deal into turmoil, just as President Jalal Talabani, a moderating influence, is in Germany for medical care after suffering a stroke.

 

 

The cradle of the protests is Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold in western Iraq,  where demonstrators are blocking a key highway to Jordan and Syria.

 

 

In a televised interview late on Monday, Maliki said there were foreign agendas behind the protests, which he described as "unconstitutional".

 

 

"I say to those who follow these agendas: Don't think it's difficult for the government to take measures against you or to re-open the road and put an end to this matter," Maliki said.

 

 

"We have been very patient with you, but don't expect this issue to be open-ended."

 

 

The protesters are demanding an end to what they see as the marginalization of the Sunni minority, who dominated Iraq until the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

 

SH (TI)/SR