Kurdish Militia Must Leave Nineveh Before Elections: Iraqi MPs

GMT 12-18-2008 Assyrian International News Agency

Baghdad (AINA) -- Speaking at a press conference in Baghdad on Wednesday, three Iraqi parliamentarians said Kurdish Peshmerga militia must be removed from the Nineveh province ahead of the planned local elections in January, reported iraqalaan.com, an Iraqi Arabic language website.

MPs Osama Al Najifi, a sunni Arab, Amin Farhan, a Yezidi and Hunain Qaddo, a Shabak, contended there will be no free and fair elections as long as the Kurdish militia is present in large parts of the Nineveh province, pointing to previous irregularities in past elections.

"The Kurdish militia in Nineveh uses terror against the inhabitants, forcing people to vote for the Kurdish parties. They threaten people with arrests, extraditions and even to demolish peoples houses or confiscate their belongings."

The Iraqi MPs called on Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki to order the Kurdish militia out of the province and replace it with non sectarian forces.

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