Let’s build on Omar’s work [Archives:2003/01/Viewpoint]

There is no doubt that the absence of Jarallah Omar will affect the political picture in Yemen. It is indeed unfortunate for the opposition in particular. I personally believe that the strength of our democracy depends heavily on a strong opposition, which could only be obtained by efforts of honest and hard working people such as Jarallah Omar.
The Islah Party’s reaction should be to consolidate the opposition front further and to join hands with the other opposition parties to form a united force that could compete strongly in the upcoming elections scheduled for April.
The demise of Jarallah Omar should only serve as a motive for all those who worked with him to go on with his plans and projects to establish a true democracy through achieving a strong opposition.
Now the ruling party should never take advantage of this situation. It was unfortunate that the official media has been implicitly linking the Islah party to the assassination of Jarallah Omar and the killing of the three humanitarian aid workers that occurred a week ago in Jibla.
Jarallah may have been the engineer of the Opposition Joint Meeting, but nevertheless the parties involved in this meeting should not have depended on him alone. They should exert their own efforts to get closer to each other to hopefully reach common grounds to form coalitions and alliances.
Yemen’s democracy needs a strong opposition that could compete for the administration of the country for the sake of its people.
We must always remember that the efforts of this noble man should not now blow away with the wind.
The best award that one could give to Jarallah for his untiring efforts to bring opposition parties together is to continue the coalition and enhance it further. Let those who wanted to disrupt this coalition by assassinating Jarallah fail in achieving their evil goals.
Let this be another chance to form a stronger opposition to achieve a better democracy and a better tomorrow for all Yemenis.

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