Al-Daawa Official: Kurds Are Seeking Sweeping Central Powers
 

BAGHDAD, July 29 (KUNA) -- Member of the Constitutional Committee Jawad Al-Maleki on Friday lashed out at Kurdish members of the commission saying that they were seeking independence from the heartland of Iraq.

In remarks to journalists, Al-Maleki, the second man in command of the Islamic Al-Daawa Party, said his fellow Kurds "want the Kurdish region to enjoy the prerogative of working out deals and separate diplomatic representation and independence of the local military forces as well as control on natural resources.

"These demands are unacceptable." If the Kurds insist on these demands, the whole constitutional process will come to a halt, he warned, but he denied these demands would lead to dissolving the government, mainly comprising the unified Iraqi Coalition and the Kurdish alliance.

On stance of the Sunnite members of the committee, he said that they reject the principle of federalism. "But we believe that federalism is an administrative system that will relieve Iraq of dictatorship." Abbas Al-Bayati, also a member of the commission and the coalition, said the Kurds were seeking central authority in their region in the north of Iraq, and indicated that the concept of federalism was being re-examined by the political parties of the country.

"The Sunnite Arabs would like to establish a new system based on several districts," he added.