A leading Sunni Arab helping write Iraq's constitution yesterday said that accepting Kurdish demands for federalism would have "grave consequences" for the nation and that the issue should be left for a new parliament to be elected in December.
Saleh al-Mutlaq spoke as Iraqi political leaders prepared to resume talks last night in a bid to finalize the charter, which parliament must approve by next week's deadline. A second round of talks was postponed by a severe sandstorm on Monday.
Al-Mutlaq said yesterday's meeting was to concentrate on federalism. He said the Sunni Arab bloc might formally submit a proposal to delay a decision on the contentious issue until the new parliament takes office.
"I think they will accept it because there is no alternative. We will not accept federalism in these circumstances," said al-Mutlaq, who, like most Sunni Arabs, fears that federalism might divide Iraq.
Sunni Arabs are expected to take a bigger role in the elections planned for Dec. 15. Many of them boycotted the Jan. 30 vote following calls by religious leaders and threats by insurgents.
Sunnis, who make up 20 percent of Iraq's population, currently hold only 17 seats of the 275-member parliament.
The Kurds, who have enjoyed self-rule in the north since 1991, have demanded that the new constitution codify federalism to prevent a future government from curbing Kurdish autonomy.
However, al-Mutlaq said that if the Kurdish demands are met, "they will have grave consequences." He did not elaborate, but the strong language underscores the depth of passion which the issue of federalism evokes on both sides.
Al-Mutlaq also called for more political groups to join the constitutional discussions because the future of Iraq is at stake.
It was unclear whether Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and an outspoken champion of federalism, was to attend yesterday's meeting.
Meanwhile, at least 10 Iraqi policemen were shot dead in five separate attacks in Baghdad yesterday, an Interior Ministry official said. The attacks all took place between 7:30am and 9am.
In one attack, four policemen on patrol were killed by insurgents with automatic weapons on a major highway in the eastern part of the capital.
In the southern Baghdad district of Doura, a police captain and his driver were killed, and in nearby Zafaraniya an officer in the Interior Ministry's Major Crimes Unit was shot dead in his car.
Two police officers were gunned down in eastern Baghdad's Zayouna district, and gunmen shot dead one policeman and wounded three in another attack.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS