Report: Govt. in Limbo, Endeavors to Resolve Qabrshmoun Deadlock
The Qabrshmoun incident seems to cast its shadow on the government's work amid reports that a new attempt to resolve the crisis is being deliberated between parties and officials.
Ministerial sources told the Saudi Ashraq al-Awsat daily on Thursday “the attempt could be the last to save the government from the crisis in a bid to prevent it from turning into a caretaker authority.”
They said the suggestion aims to find a settlement to the dispute over the judicial authority to run the investigation into the deadly Qabrshmoun incident.
“The proposed settlement calls for those insisting the case be referred to the Judicial Council to relinquish this demand and instead agree on its referral to the military judiciary,” said the sources.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri has gone a long way in the consultations being conducted to secure consensus of this settlement, which will inevitably activate the government, according to the sources.
The Premier has reportedly consulted his proposal with Speaker Nabih Berri and a number of representatives of the parliamentary blocs participating in the government on the sidelines of this week’s parliamentary session, which was devoted to discuss the budget.
The sources said the inability of the Cabinet to convene, in line with this week’s Parliament meetings, to endorse the closure of accounts of 2018 was due to the conditions made by some insisting the case be listed on the Cabinet agenda, which the Premier rejects.
Hariri has reportedly rejected listing the Qabrshmoun incident on any cabinet agenda unless legal measures are taken to facilitate the investigation, and the wanted individuals are handed over.
Hariri told those who needed to agree to what Jumblatt accepted, and would not follow any proposal that was not approved by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt.
Progressive Socialist Party supporters of MP Walid Jumblat had blocked roads during Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil’s visit to prevent him from touring the region. The protests escalated into a deadly incident in the town of Qabrshmoun where two bodyguards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib were killed in an armed clash.
Source: Naharnet
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