Demarcation of province borders postponed

[oleman]

BAGHDAD, Feb. 29 (AKnews) - Now is not the time to begin the restoration of province borderlines, said the State of Law Coalition.

The party said that the presentation of the draft law of the demarcation of administrative borders of 17 provinces across Iraq will be delayed because now is not a suitable time.

"The National coalition agreed to delay the implementation of this law until the end of the problems and disputes between the political blocs," said Coalition spokesman Ali al-Shallah.

"We don't object to the demarcation of the administrative border between the provinces but the time is not appropriate and other obstacles and problems must be resolved first."

The political calls have increased recently to demarcate the administrative borders between the provinces, especially between Karbala, Anbar, Nineveh, Salahaddin, Muthana, Dhiqar, Diyala and Baghdad due to economic and security problems.

The Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, proposed to cancel all the decrees of the former regime about the administrative boundaries of cities and towns, returning them to their pre-1968 state, the year the Baath Party took power in Iraq.

Once the Iraqi council of Representatives and government begin to restore the former borderlines, the most prominent challenge will be the mechanism for the application of Article 140 of the Constitution.

According to Article 140 the issue of the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil must be resolved via three stages: First is normalization, which includes resettling populations to their original homes, compensating those who must make way of such settlers and invalidating illegal land contracts.

Secondly, a census will be made to register voters followed by a referendum to decide whether the area becomes a part of Kurdistan Regional Government or federal government.

The former Iraqi regime, altered the demography of areas inhabited by a mix of ethnics groups in favor of Arabs.

By Mouhammed al-Tayyeb

RN/SS/AKnews

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/292891/