"The Islamist current is capable of coping with the reality without any clashes," said Habīb in an interview with al-Ahrām newspaper, adding the private media is defending the secularist and businessmen's interests.
He noted that the Egyptian church rallied supporters, which was acceptable, but there have to be civil frameworks for Copts, pointing out that the Muslim Brotherhood's position regarding the recent incidents in al-Tahrīr Square had positive impact in the elections. ['Abd al-Jawād Tawfīq, al-Ahrām, Dec. 11, p. 7] Read the original text in Arabic
Also on the same page of al-Ahrām of December 11, Margaret 'Āzir, the first Coptic woman to enter parliament through elections, said that the Islamist majority at the People's Assembly should not be a cause for concerns.
She said that the representation of Copts was exclusive to the finance and environment portfolios and that was why they balked from active participation in politics, adding the sectarian troubles are not real and only aim to distract Egyptians' attention away from serious issues and demanding their rights. ['Izat 'Abd al-Mun'im, al-Ahrām, Dec. 11, p. 7] Read original text in Arabic
Meanwhile, the Maspero Youth Union warned the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) against responding to the wishes of the Islamist groups to unilaterally set up a constituent committee to draft the constitution.
Intellectuals accused SCAF of being responsible for the sectarian atmosphere that marked the first round of the parliamentary elections.
"The mass media published news reports on expected conflicts between SCAF and Islamist movements in the society right after SCAF member Maj. General Mukhtār al-Mullā made statements that the constituent assembly that will lay the constitution must be approved by the salvation government and the advisory council because the People's Assembly does not represent all categories in the society," according to a statement by the Union on Dec. 10. ['Imād Khalīl, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 11, p. 5] Read the original text in Arabic
However, in statements to the independent newspaper al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, SCAF member Maj. General Mamdūh Shāhīn said the Mullā's remarks regarding the constitution and parliament reflected purely personal viewpoints, adding that SCAF is serious about implementing its pledges but the political powers have to trust the military council.
For their part, the Muslim Brotherhood criticized SCAF as leaders of the political Islam group lashed out at the conflicting statements of Mullā and Shāhīn regarding the constitution and parliament.
Also on the same page, it was reported that the Emergency Supreme State Security Prosecution released three minors who were suspected of involvement in the October 9 Maspero incidents that left 27 people killed and 350 others wounded.
The Military Police had arrested 30 persons off the Egyptian TV & Radio building in Maspero area as well as political activist 'Alā' 'Abd al-Fattāh on charges of assembling, possession of firearms and knives and assaulting Military Police personnel and remanded them under 15-day investigative custody.
In the Upper Egyptian governorate of Asyut, security authorities nipped a sectarian crisis between Muslims and Copts in the bud in the village of Sinbū, Dayrūt town, in differences over a plot of land next to al-Mashriqī Monastery in the village.
Asyut Security Director Muhammad Ibrāhīm said the security apparatus, in coordination with Governor al-Sayīd al-Bura'ī, defused the tension before it proliferated into a strife, adding the plot of land subject to dispute actually belongs to the state.
"Twenty-five meters of this plot is off the Asyut-Cairo agricultural highway. Muslims wanted to construct school on that piece of land to serve the children of the village, not a mosque," Ibrāhīm added. [Yūnis Darwīsh and Māhir 'Abd al-Sabūr, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, Dec. 11, p. 3]Read text in Arabic
