MESOP KURDISTAN IRAQ – Yazidi MPs: We Don’t Need Shiite Militia Groups / Militia want to impose themselves on newly freed towns

Basnews – 22.02.2015 – BAGHDAD – Two Yazidi members of the Kurdistan and Iraqi Parliaments have said that Kurdish Yazidi volunteers and Peshmerga forces are fully prepared to defend Kurdish areas and there is no need for Hashdi Sha’bi Shiite militia to intervene.“Yazidi volunteers and Peshmerga forces don’t need the deployment or help of the Hashdi Sha’bi militia group to protect Kurdish areas,” Yazidi Member of the Iraqi Parliament Viyan Dakhil told BasNews.

She said that Yazidis are working hard to retake and liberate their land from Islamic State (IS) militants. “Peshmerga forces, with the support of the international coalition jets can repel the attacks of jihadists, the only things they still need are weapons,” Dakhil said. Sheikh Shamo, a Yazidi MP in the Kurdistan Parliament, told BasNews, “Deploying Hashdi Sha’bi militia in Yazidi areas is a direct intervention. Some political parties are involved in making this mistake. They want to divide the Yazidis into two.”

He went on, “Hashid Sha’bi are playing a dangerous game with the Yazidis. They want to replace the Peshmerga forces.”Shamo believes that the deployment of the militia to Sinjar Town is not to free the town. They want to impose themselves in the area once the town is liberated. This won’t happen – Peshmerga forces have lost men protecting the area, while the militia wishes to enter and impose themselves. “It is unfortunate to see parties getting subsidies from Baghdad. Perhaps some Yazidis will make a mistake by supporting Hashid Sha’bi due to some personal or political interest,” he said. “Why does Baghdad send a budget to those who are under control of IS militants but nothing to the Peshmerga. If they are concerned about Sinjar, they have to know that the town’s residents support the Peshmerga,” concluded Shamo.