Chairman of parliament’s Human Rights Committee Saleem Abdullah Al-Jabouri told a news conference in capital Baghdad on Thursday that recent activities in Diyala and forcing groups of people to leave their homes show there is a third hand in there that seeks chaos.
An Iraqi security force revealed earlier this week that a coalition of former Baath party members and Wahabbis have been trying to force Shia residence to leave their homes or get killed.
The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said pressures on Shias were increased since Omar al-Humairi was appointed as Diyala’s governor. Militants attacked several Shia gatherings in the past two weeks which were followed by province authorities’ total silence on their crimes.
“There is a third party that seeks chaos and sectarianism so that it can prove that Diyala’s stability lies in separation of Sunnis and Shias,” he said.
Iraqi MP called on all security authorities to use all they have to protect people in Diyala.
There are two ways to settle this problem, Jabouri said, describing that, “ one is to benefit from social unity, order and reconciliation which needs a certain amount of time and help from all political parties, security forces and tribal powers; and the other is to start restoring order to those villages which are most threatened by terrorists”.
Jabouri added tens of families had to leave their homes under pressure due to what he called was a “security void” in Diyala.
Al Miqdadiyahin in Diyala province is the most volatile region which suffers vast presence of terrorist groups that occasionally target civilians.
A wave of violence began in Iraq on April 23 when militants invaded security checkpoints near the town of Hawijah in north Iraq, sparking clashes in which 53 people were killed.
Dozens more died in subsequent unrest, including attacks targeting security forces in Kirkuk, Nineveh, Diyala and Anbar provinces, raising fears of a return to the all-out conflict that took the lives of tens of thousands of people from 2006 to 2008.
SHI/SHI