Only 50% of displaced Iraqis repatriated in 4 provinces
Families fleeing from the IS-held areas.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Only 50 percent of the total of Iraqis displaced by the Islamic State militants occupation and counter security offensives have been repatriated, a parliament committee said Thursday.
Raad al-Dalaki, chairman of the parliament’s Migration and Displacement Committee, said the number of families repatriated to their hometowns in Nineveh, Salahuddin, Anbar and Diyala does not exceed 50 percent of the total of displaced civilians.
He pointed in a press conference inside the parliament’s building to what he described as “obvious procrastination” regarding the repatriation issue. “We we have inclusive statistics that give (displacement) percentages that are different from those declared by the government”, Dahlaki added.
“Statistics of areas in Diyala, Anbar and Salahuddin indicate that repatriated families are less than 50 percent at best,” he said, arguing that areas which had been mentioned by the parliament’s speaker had never witnessed an existence by IS, and had not, therefore, seen any military operations which, he said, meant that displacements there were not for security reasons.
“Those regions had witnessed kidnappings of civilians who were later released…..some others are held by the Interior Ministry for security review,” according to Dahlaki.
Earlier this week, Zahd al-Khatouni, another committee member, said more than one million displaced civilians were not registered by the migration authorities in Nineveh
More than four million civilians were displaced since Islamic State took over a third of Iraq in 2014 and as Iraqi forces launched offensives to retake those regions. The Iraqi government plans to repatriate more than one million displaced civilians before the end of this year.