By: Hilmi Sami Muhammad

Mar 20, 2006

March 16, 2006 marked the 18^th anniversary of the chemical attack on Halabja by the Baathist Iraqi regime of the tyrant Saddam Hussien. Within minutes of this attack, 5000 residents of Halabja, predominantly women, children and elderly, were dead and many more thousands were blinded and maimed, and the health effects of this genocidal act still linger for those who survived this attack. Around the same time, chemical attacks were carried out on a more clandestine basis in other small towns and villages in Southern Kurdistan as part of the ugly Anfal genocide campaign – killing tens of thousand more innocent Kurds. Yet despite 15 years of self-rule by the Kurds, Halabja residents lack basic services including clean water, electricity, and health care. Not surprisingly, their frustration surfaced in a very public way on the 18^th anniversary of the attack on their city. They came out and protested in large numbers against the Kurdish authorities for the lack of these essential services. They set fire on the monument built for victims of the attack charging the authorities are corrupt and more interested in using the Halabja tragedy for political purposes than in helping its victims. Clearly, the charge of using the Halabja tragedy for political gains is serious and difficult to verify. One must be skeptical about this charge and hope it is false, otherwise the current champions of the Kurdish cause are no better than self-serving political opportunists. Having said that, the peaceful protest of the Halabja residents and their grievances are legitimate and should not have been countered with the force used.

While one must not ignore the fact that our people are generally better off and happier to have more freedoms than any other period in history, the talk of lack of services in Kurdistan is by no means unique to Halabja. It is a common subject among people in villages, towns and cities, and the authorities must pay close attention to this issue. Certainly, it is the government’s duty to improve people’s living conditions, but it is also in the governing parties’ best interest to do so. Unlike any other time in our modern history, Kurdistan leaders are directly and completely accountable to the people as they are and have been the authority for the last 15 years. They cannot offer excuses and hide behind the curtains of cruelty of the central government or lack of generosity of the international community. Therefore, people’s grievances are justifiably targeted at the Kurdish political leaders and their governing parties.

The governing authorities in Kurdistan must do their best to provide the essential services and generate opportunities for better life for the people of Kurdistan whether in the larger cities of Sulaimania, Kirkuk, Arbil and Dohuk (where the lion’s share of the infrastructure investment is directed) or the neglected smaller cities, towns and villages. It is in the governing parties’ best interest to do so in order to prevent the nation’s anger and backlash. Poverty, anger and frustration generate a flourishing environment for the rise and spread of extremism. So often in the Middle East, we have seen extreme groups taking advantage of people’s discontent by filling the social and political vacuum and providing some essential services to the angry and needy, and becoming in the process an unstoppable political and military force. It would be disastrous for Kurdistan to become a breeding ground for extreme views and those whose ultimate goal would be to establish an authoritarian regime that imposes a particular brand of political or religious belief and crush civil liberties and freedoms. I am convinced in the current volatile but relatively free political environment in Kurdistan, serving the people, understanding their issues and concerns, and providing openness and transparency in governing are the only way to stop extremism from taking a strong hold in Kurdistan.

This is not a time for building symbols and monuments, displaying arrogance or taking for granted people’s current support in Kurdistan. It is however exactly the time for genuinely serving people and caring for their concerns. Good governing and providing decent services are also the best way to respect dreams and memory of those who perished for the cause of freedom and democracy in Kurdistan. This should be the great lesson of the Halabja demonstration of March 16, 2006.