Diala people say violence denied them the right to live
By Omran Awwad
Diala, March 26 (VOI) – Jassem Khalaf has not received his pension for nearly six months nor has he received the foodstuff items in his ration cards in a time when prices of foodstuffs are skyrocketing.
“Security condition in the province is very bad. We cannot venture out to the market because it is under the control of gunmen, prompting the majority of shop owners to pack up and leave for southern or northern provinces,” which enjoy a relative calm, Khalaf told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
People in Diala, 57 km northeast of the capital Baghdad, complain that the armed operations witnessed in the ethnically mixed province during the second half of last year have thrown a dark shadow on their daily life.
They say they have not received the items in their ration cards for six months now and the banks in the province are empty of money for fears of robbery like what happened a couple of times in the past.
“I frequently go to the bank to ask about my monthly pension but each time I am told that the bank has no balance to pay me,” Khalaf said, referring to the robbery of two billion Iraqi dinars (roughly 1.5 million U.S. dollars) from al-Rafidain bank in broad daylight and the killing of six guards.
An employee in the foodstuffs distribution department blamed the late arrival of foodstuffs on “fears haunting truck drivers carrying food from Baghdad to Baaquba and its districts as many of them were killed or kidnapped by warring armed militias for sheer sectarian reasons.”
Several drivers of trucks were killed in attacks on the roads of al-Hussainiya, Jadidat al-Shatt, al-Hadid, al-Mafraq and Khan Bani Saad.
Maryam Shakir, a 35-year-old teacher, said “we have received neither the salaries nor the foodstuff items in our ration cards. And, when we go to the market, we find prices are very high. We can no longer stand these circumstances that get tougher and tougher everyday.” She said the lack of security and the power wielded by the militias “caused us to lose everything. Hundreds of families were forced to relocate in other areas, but as for us we don’t know where the inter-militia wars and the operations targeting U.S. forces are leading us.”
Dreid Zaayan, a married man with two children and has no educational qualifications, told VOI “I’ve been jobless for one year now, particularly after the growing acts of violence.”
“If the government failed to intervene and impose its power, our lives will move from bad to worse,” stressed Zaayan.
The people of Diala are obviously footing the bill of violence that marked their province, craving to restore the normal life they lost as a result of violence and zero security.
Source: Aswat al Iraq
Indexed under: Aswat Al Iraq Features, Children, Diyala, Refugees, Women and Children