Mutlaq shoulders Maliki responsibility of announcing new federal regions

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Deputy premier Saleh al-Mutlaq shouldered the responsibility of announcing federal regions in Iraq on Premier Nouri al-Maliki’s shoulders, according to a statement issued by his office. The statement, copy received by IraqiNews.com, he blamed Maliki for the new trend to announce some provinces as regions, thus dividing the country and increasing the agony of the Iraqi people. He rejected the arrest campaigns witnessed by some provinces and warned against their consequences on the future and unity of Iraq . Salahuddin Provincial Council member Ali Ajeeli told IraqiNews.com that the council declared the province an independent region due to the policies of the central government against the people . He charged the central government for negligence, demotion and sectarianism. Thursday, Governor threatened to cut off oil products and electricity supplies from Iraqi provinces, if the decision to demote Tikrit university professors and personnel. Iraqi Higher Education Ministry decided last week to demote 140 professors and university personnel at a time the president of the university announced his resignation for these measures. Salahuddin province, in addition to its unique position in mid Iraq , has oil resources and can provide 60 percent of oil products and 30% of electrical production, in addition to its agricultural potentialities. According to 2010 statistics, it has 1.322.882 citizens, who comprised 4.1 of Iraqi population. Sunnis population are counted as 80%, while the remaining are Shiites, Turkmen and Kurds.  Tikrit, center of Salahuddin province, lies 175 km north west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.90