Nineveh may soon Request Autonomy

Nineveh’s government accuses Maliki of confiscating its authority over the deployment of the army in major cities, and for launching arrest campaigns by exploiting the laws of “accountability and justice” and “the fight against terrorism,” as well as for depriving the province of a budget that is commensurate with its population.

Nujaifi stressed that there are fears that the Anbar crisis may spread to Mosul, saying: “Yes, we have concerns. But we are now taking a series of measures to prevent this. We have measures that enhance trust between the security services and the people of the province in order to isolate the security services from the political conflicts. [We plan to] stick together, the citizens and the security services, in our war against al-Qaeda, without internal conflicts.”

He considered the resignation of dozens of deputies from the Iraqiyya List to be “like withdrawing from the political battle just when it’s intensifying. I am against the idea of ​​withdrawal or resignation. We should take a step forward in our political struggle, and not withdraw. For this, we raised the idea of forming an [autonomous] province or to internationalize the issue.”

About the effects of the regional conflicts regarding the Syrian crisis on the situation in the provinces of Nineveh and Anbar, he stressed, “The Syrian crisis has caused increased sectarian tensions in Iraq. And I personally think that Iran doesn’t want to push Iraq toward internal conflict in this circumstance, especially if we consider Iran to be skilled at calculating its strategic interests and the power balance around it. … But Maliki thinks his survival in power is linked to how much he can incite sectarianism and lead the Shiite project in Iraq.”

He pointed out that “the situation in Anbar is different from that in the province of Nineveh. In Nineveh, there’s a unified leadership that managed during three consecutive elections to maintain its leading position in the province. So reaching a decision and directing citizens is easier in Nineveh province than in Anbar, where there are still many leaders that, although they stand together in confronting Maliki, disagree on the project that they will adopt or have different abilities in controlling the tribes to avoid a confrontation with the army.”

He revealed that the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) “has extensions on the outskirts of the province of Nineveh, far and near the Syrian border, or deep in the ... desert. But [ISIS] has no significant presence inside the cities or in the areas near the cities. We have asked ... Operations Command to direct its efforts to those areas.”