Politician calls on UIA to reach out to people

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: The head of the National Reform Movement, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, on Monday called on the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) to reach out to all segments of the Iraqi people and to learn from past mistakes. “The alliance should reach out to the rest of the Iraqi people, benefit from past experience and avoid mistakes,” Jaafari said during a press conference today following his meeting with top Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani in Najaf city. Jaafari quoted Sistanti as stressing the need for working out solutions to tensions between Iraq and its neighbors. Najaf, about 160 km south of Baghdad, has an estimated population of 900,600 in 2008, though this has increased significantly since 2003 due to immigration from abroad. The city is one of the holiest cities of Shiite Islam and the center of Shiite political power in Iraq. The city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shiite Islamic world. It is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims. SS (P) 1