Hashd al-Shaabi uncommitted to treaty with Peshmerga

Erbil, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Kurdish officials in the hotly contested city of Tuz Khormatu told K24 on Monday that the Shia Hashd al-Shaabi (People's Mobilization Forces) militia is not committed to some of the terms of the agreement they signed during their last meeting with Peshmerga forces in December 2015.

During the agreement, Hashd al-Shaabi agreed to withdraw from the center of the town, and both sides decided to create a joint military force to share control. Despite this agreement, Kurdish officials stress that the Shia force have deployed more militiamen in the town. 

"One of the conditions of the agreement was that Hashd al-Shaabi remove its troops from rooftops of houses and other buildings throughout the town, but now they have turned these houses and buildings into military bases," Security Manager of Tuz Khormatu, Farough Ahmad points out.

After two months of ongoing negotiations between the Peshmerga and Hashad al-Shaabi , Kurdish officials say there is no guarantee that the militia is adhering to the agreement. 

The military head of Hamrin district, west of Tuz Khurmatu, Mela Karim Shokr says, "Peshmerga is a well-organized force while Hashd al-Shaabi is a militia; they can tell us that have pushed back their forces from the town but [in reality they] still keep most of their militants in the town. That is why we cannot believe their promises."Hashd al-Shaabi , for its part, believes that some individuals are involved in disrupting the fragile peace in Tuz Khormatu, while both sides of the agreement remain true to their words and are continuing to workand collaborate based on the recently-signed treaty.

"Whatever force, from Hashd al-Shaabi to Peshmerga, who work against the unity of [our] two communities [Kurds and Shia Arabs] and [their] security will be arrested and prosecuted," one of the leaders of Hashd al-Shaabi Shia Turkmen from Kirkuk, Nejat Hossein assereted.

However, security officials of Peshmerga in Tuz Khormatu stress that killings and kidnappings of citizens continue. They said that in 2015, over ten assassinations and abductions took place in the town, which is located in Salahaddin Province 79 kilometers (55 miles) from the largely Kurdish city of Kirkuk.

(Soran Kamaran from Kirkuk Contributed to this report.)