Iraq finances Shia militia, disregards Peshmerga

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Iraqi Federal Government decided to cut 3 percent of the pension in Kirkuk Province and give it to the Iraqi Shia militia, a Kirkuk Provincial Council (KPC) member said on Tuesday.

Following the financial crisis in Iraq due to the falling oil prices within the last year, the Iraqi Finance Ministry recently made the decision in Kirkuk to allocate 60 percent of the pension to the Shia militia Hashd al-Shaabi and the rest to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Hashd al-Shaabi is one of the largest Iraqi militias in the country that consists of over 51 militant groups. The army was created after the Iranian top Shia cleric in Iraq Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani decided to protect the Shia shrines from IS threats.

The militia has often been reported by Amnesty, an international human rights organization, for committing war crimes in different parts of Iraq.

On Tuesday, KPC held a meeting where all members of the council consensually rejected Baghdad's decision. Furthermore, the members criticized the government for ignoring “the most powerful and constitutional force, which is Peshmerga,” that has protected Kirkuk since the emergence of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

“In the meeting, all members of the Council [KPC], including Kurds, Turkmens, Christians and Assyrians, agreed that the money should go to Peshmerga forces. The Kurdish fighters protect more than 95 percent of Kirkuk whereas Hashd al-Shaabi is in charge of 2-4 percent of the Province, in Taza and Bashir areas, located in southern Kirkuk,” Ibrahim Khalil, a member of KPC told Kurdistan24.

Khalil noted that the council wrote a letter to the Iraqi Federal Government officially rejecting the decision of the Finance Ministry.

“According to the recent Baghdad reforms, provinces should have more power to decide on their local affairs, not the central government [Federal government]. If Baghdad rejects our decision, we will be obliged to complain to the Supreme Court of Iraq,” he added.

On June 2014, after IS emerged in the north, the Iraqi army abandoned Kirkuk and fled to the Kurdistan Region. Since then, Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been in charge of defending the Province against IS attacks.

Moreover, the Iraqi Federal Government blockaded the Region’s budget share since the beginning of 2014, including Peshmerga salaries. Baghdad accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of selling its oil independently while the KRG believes that the Region has a “constitutional right” to administrate its resources.

Reporting by Mewan Dolamari

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa

(Soran Kamaran and Kovan Izzet contributed to this report)