ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdish parliamentary bloc in Iraq has accused the controversial Dijla Forces of negotiating with radical insurgent groups, and is demanding that force commander Abdulamir Zaidi should be fired.
Khalid Shwani, a Kurdish MP and head of Iraq’s parliamentary legal committee, told Rudaw that Zaidi poses a serious threat to security in the southern areas nof Kirkuk.
“Zaidi has negotiated with insurgent groups, which in fact increases the threat of these groups,” Shwani charged.
Last year, when Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki created the Dijla forces and sent them “to maintain security” in the provinces of Diyala and Kirkuk, his move was blasted by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which sent in its own Peshmarga forces south of Kirkuk to counter the new force.
“Zaidi is a failure,” Shwani told Rudaw. “He has failed to maintain security and he should be removed from his post.”
The Kurds have always treated Zaidi and his Dijla forces with deep suspicion, believing that the Iraqi force was initially formed by Baghdad to gain a foothold in the Kurdish-populated areas that have long been outside Baghdad’s control.
According to Shwani, insurgent groups have become more active in recent months in exactly those areas where the Dijla Forces are based. He said that armed men appear in the area in broad daylight without any interference from Zaidi’s forces.
Shwani and his Kurdish colleagues in the Iraqi parliament have now started a petition, asking to remove the commander from his post.
“We are trying to collect the biggest number of signatures to submit to parliament in order to question Zaidi and then remove him from his post,” said Shwani.
The Hamrin mountain ridge and Tuz Khurmatu areas south of Kirkuk, which lie within the responsibility of the Dijla and other Iraqi armed forces, have seen some of Iraq’s deadliest attacks in the past several months.
Government buildings, mosques, police convoys and markets, particularly in Tuz Khurmatu, have been targeted by car bombs and dozens of people have been killed, including senior Turkman officials.
“I have even told Iraq’s commander-in-chief that if he wants to restore security in the area he should remove Zaidi from his post,” said Shwani.
