CAIRO: Representatives of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said Thursday that all options are open to confront the ruling military council and sack the current transitional government, including organizing mass protests. Head of the party's parliamentary bloc Hussein Ibrahim accused the government of covering up corruption cases and ignoring crime, describing it as “crippled” at a news conference in the party's new location in front of the Ministry of Interior, the de facto torture chamber of the party's members in the past. “Within the next two weeks we will work on the government's resignation. If they don't step down, we will hurl a series of interpellations at them in parliament,” Ibrahim said. The party's representatives blamed the government for Egypt's economic, social and political crisis, saying that they are a source of an embarrassment to the FJP. “The parliament rejects the briefing given by the MP Kamal El-Ganzouri in February,” said Ibrahim. At a PA committee meeting Wednesday, lawmakers slammed the government's lack of response to Parliament's recommendations on how to address the country's complex problems or attempt to meet their aspirations. “It's the right of the Egyptian people to have a revolutionary government and local municipals councils, otherwise they must have a revolutionary parliament,” Ibrahim said. Several cabinet ministers walked out of a PA session later in the day after an FJP MP accused ministers of pocketing money from special funds. Tension between the FJP and the government reached a head following the lifting of a travel ban imposed on US NGO workers charged with receiving foreign funding to meddle in Egypt's political affairs. The military council has repeatedly rejected the PA's threat of issuing a no-confidence vote against the government. In a rally of strongly-worded statements, the FJP threatened to lead mass protests, while the military council reminded “unnamed political forces” of their history, hinting at the mass incarcerations and persecutions of the 1950s and 60s. The Islamist group has since considered fielding a presidential candidate, which it has repeatedly declared was off the table in the past year, possibly leading to a further confrontation with SCAF and a growing rift between the FJP and other political powers. Islamists' control over the PA and the newly elected Constituent Assembly has fueled concern among liberals over their clear bid to dominate the political arena, shaping Egypt's future according to their own agenda.
