Sistani speaks of 'pain' in first talks with Iraqi VP

The spiritual head of Iraqi Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, expressed "pain" on Thursday at the violence in Iraq during a first meeting with the Sunni vice president, the latter said.

"I found (Sistani) has good knowledge of all the issues Iraqis are suffering from," Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi told reporters after their talks in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.

"He told me, 'my heart is burning from the pain of the troubles in Iraq'," the vice president said.

The meeting between Sistani and Hashemi comes amid reconciliation efforts by religious and political leaders in the face of rampant sectarian violence that has killed thousands of people in nearly two years.

"I found he cares very much for Iraq and all Iraqis. From now on I will inform (Sistani) about everything happening in my office... I found he has good knowledge and knows everything that is going on in Iraq," Hashemi said.

The vice president heads the Iraqi Islamic Party, and is one of the most respected Sunnis in Iraq, while Sistani is the most influential Shiite cleric in the country's majority Shiite population.

Hashemi recently launched his Iraqi National Compact, a list of 25 principles that aim to serve as the basis for reconciliation efforts between the different sides in Iraq.

"I showed him the document and Sistani took the version that I had in my pocket. He told me that he had read it and supported it in general," Hashemi said after the meeting.
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