Only security failures, unreliability in disputed areas after Oct. 16: Kurdish MP

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Shakhawan Abdulla, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Parliament, reiterated on Sunday the importance of installing forces invested in maintaining the security of the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad.

“When a foreign force,” unguided by locals, takes the task of providing the security of a region “they can’t protect it,” Abdulla, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) bloc in the Iraqi Parliament, told Kurdistan 24.

Kirkuk and Mosul are both among territories contested between Baghdad and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Both regions have witnessed increased instability after Iraqi forces, and the Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi (PMF) militias took over Kirkuk from Peshmerga in a military operation last year.

“Neither will they [Iraqi forces and PMF] shy away from violating the public’s rights,” Abdulla noted as the cause for his party’s support of “efforts to end the status quo.”

On Wednesday, a Kurdish woman died by a security forces’ bullet in Kirkuk, after a grenade attack on Iraqi counter-terrorism forces, which injured three members, and roused a panicked response.

Over the past week, the province of Kirkuk has witnessed 16 different incidents ranging from bombings to shootings and other armed attacks.

Roadside blasts in the areas are also on the rise, as a family was torn apart in Iraq’s Diyala Province when both parents passed away, and all three children were injured in the fifth explosion of its kind in the past week alone.

“What we have after the events of Oct. 16 are security failures and unreliability,” Abdulla said.

Iraq is in a period of uncertainty. The current Parliament’s term expires at the start of July, and a Transitional Government will take charge until a leading coalition initiates a new administration.

Since the end of the May 12 parliamentary elections, different parties across Iraq complained of fraud, with Parliament doubting the results of the newly-implemented electronic voting system and ruling a law to recount all votes across the country manually.

“KDP wants all Kurdish parties to partake in a coalition that goes to Baghdad to address the rights of the Kurdish people,” Abdulla said.

On Monday, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) reaffirmed the stance of Kurdish unity after the two leading Kurdish parties agreed to go to Baghdad as a joint delegation.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany