ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Sections of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) are “Arabizing” disputed areas, burning crop fields belonging to Kurdish farmers, and forcing them out of their homes, a top Peshmerga commander said.
“They raid Kurdish homes every night, burn their wheat and barley farms, blow up their cars, and plant bombs in their farms so they flee the place,” Mahmoud Sangawi, the head of Diyala Peshmerga front told Rudaw. “This round of Arabization has started in a different way and with a different strategy. It is the Hashd al-Shaabi who is responsible for this,” Sangawi claimed, referring to the PMF by its Arabic name.
The Peshmerga commander’s comments come a week after a group of Kurdish parliamentarians in Iraqi parliament warned about “unknown parties” meddling with the security and stability of the disputed areas in the Eastern province of Diyala.
“They raid Kurdish homes every night, burn their wheat and barley farms, blow up their cars, and plant bombs in their farms so they flee the place,” Mahmoud Sangawi, the head of Diyala Peshmerga front told Rudaw. “This round of Arabization has started in a different way and with a different strategy. It is the Hashd al-Shaabi who is responsible for this,” Sangawi claimed, referring to the PMF by its Arabic name.
The Peshmerga commander’s comments come a week after a group of Kurdish parliamentarians in Iraqi parliament warned about “unknown parties” meddling with the security and stability of the disputed areas in the Eastern province of Diyala.
Said Ali Husseini, head of PMF relations in northern Iraq, rejected the allegations and told Rudaw English on Saturday that the Peshmerga commander's comments regarding recent incidents are "unfortunate" and said the PMF enjoy good relations with the Peshmerga forces.
Sangawi who led the Peshmerga forces against the Islamic State (ISIS) for three years in Diyala province, known as Garmaser in Kurdish, accuses several groups within PMF of acting on their own accord, in flagrance of the central orders of Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi or President Barham Salih.
“The Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq listens neither to Adil Abdul-Mahdi nor the president of the republic or any other authority,” Sangawi said naming other groups such as Badr Organization and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba of acting in the same way with no regard for central government authority.
Tensions between Kurds and Arabs in the disputed areas in Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahaddin provinces have flared since October 2017 when the Kurdish Peshmerga forces retreated from these areas in the aftermath of the Kurdistan referendum for independence. The tension has created a security void that has allowed surviving elements of the Islamic State to attack both Kurdish and Arab villages in the area.
“There is a security vacuum in the town, which has paved the way for terrorists to burn peoples’ crops,” Mohammed Mala Hasan, the mayor of the town of Khanaqin in Diyala province, told Rudaw English on May 18.
“In the past, we thought if the Shiites, who were oppressed like us, assume power, they would listen to us and coexist with us... Instead, they came and created hell for the Kurds,” Sangawi said on Thursday. “They destroyed everywhere starting from Jalawla up to Khanaqin and Peshmerga territory.”
The PMF spokesperson in the North says the PMF enjoys good relations with Peshmerga forces, bringing up the example of a meeting held with Peshmerga three days ago in the east of Tuz Khurmatu. "We said we are ready to cooperate with Peshmerga [to combat ISIS in these areas] ... This proves that our relations with Peshmerga are good," he said, while admitting that there could be "individual" cases of criminal action by Hashd members "which do not represent Hashd."
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