Mustaqbal Lauds Syria's Brotherhood Document, Slams Bassil

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday hailed the document issued last week by Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, saying it stressed the Islamist movement’s “commitment to a civil, democratic and pluralistic state in Syria that is based on the rotation of power.”

“This document which stressed the importance of equal relations between Lebanon and Syria based on mutual respect … represents an advanced political document with a distinctive Syrian flavor that resembles the documents issued by (Cairo-based) Al-Azhar,” Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, the bloc said.

The document is “an implementation of the spirit and slogans of the Arab Spring and a refutation of a lot of rumors launched against the revolutionaries and people of Syria,” al-Mustaqbal said after its weekly meeting.

The Brotherhood vowed on Sunday to share power and respect democracy if President Bashar al-Assad is toppled.

The group issued a 10-point document on the future of Syria, calling for a “civil, modern, democratic and pluralistic state based on a civil constitution” with equality among all citizens and respect for human rights.

The reassurance came after Islamist parties catapulted to power in Tunisia and Egypt in the wake of Arab Spring uprisings, feeding concerns about religious and secular freedom there.

The movement has had no strong presence inside Syria since 1982, when Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez, ordered the military to quell a Brotherhood rebellion in the central city of Hama, sealing off the city in an assault that killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people.

Membership in the group inside Syria is punishable by death, but the group has remained active outside Syria's borders.

Turning to Lebanon, al-Mustaqbal bloc said the recent protests staged by school teachers and lawyers and the complaints of the owners of hospitals and gas stations were indications of “the state of dissatisfaction across the country caused by the government’s failure.”

The bloc called on the government to “stop wasting time and focus on establishing the regulatory commission and preparing for an international invitation for tenders in order to build a new power plant.”

“This increasing deterioration is an indication of the vanishing of the state … as a result of coming under the authority of the party of weapons (Hizbullah) and its allies,” the bloc added, accusing the ruling parties of “exploiting power in order to achieve further hegemony, domination and factional and personal gains.”

The bloc also accused Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil of “endorsing a policy of intimidation and blackmail against the citizens” and “seeking to push the public opinion to approve what serves his own interests and the interests of his political movement.”