LEAD STORY: Barzani confirms in meeting with PM Maliki’s delegation on necessity to split Judicial cases from politics

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: The President of north Iraq‘s Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, has confirmed, in a meeting with a delegation, representing Iraq‘s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, on Wednesday evening, for necessity to split the Judicial cases from the political issues, and the participation by all Iraqi components in sharing the country’s administration, according to a source in the Region’s government on Thursday. “Barzan had received at his office in Arbil’s Salahaddin Resort, on Wednesday evening, a delegation from PM Maliki, comprising the leaderships of the National Alliance, led by Hassan al-Suneid, Saleh al-Fayadh of Maliki’s government, in which the current situation in Iraq had been discussed, along means to find a settlement for the current political crisis in the country,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. The source quoted Barzani as “having reaffirmed necessity to split the Judicial cases from politics, and to achieve commitment to the democratic process, along with the participation of all Iraqi components in the country’s administration,” on the background of the current charges against Vice-President and the leader in al-Iraqiya Alliance, Tariq al-Hashimy, with having committed tterrorist” acts and PM Maliki’s decision to withdraw trust from his Deputy Prime Minister, also an al-Iraqiya Alliance leader, Saleh al-Mutlaq. The current political and security tension in the country had stemmed from previous problems, including the dossier of the security cabinet posts, after one year of the formation of the current government, due to differences between the State of Law Alliance, led by Maliki, and the al-Iraqiya Alliance, led by former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, on the candidates for the Defense Minisrtry, which is the share of al-Iraqiya and the Interior Ministry of the State of Law, along with the failure to settle the dossier of the National Council for Strategic Policies (NCSP), demanded by al-Iraqiya, according to the Arbil Agreement, but the State of Law had rejected the demand, confirming the Council’s formation stands counter to the Iraqi Constitution. 659