Protests in Diwaniya demand canceling sahwa meeting

DIWANIYA / IraqiNews.com: A tribal demonstration was staged in Diwaniya on Monday demanding the cancellation of the 1st constituent conference of the “politicized” Diwaniya sahwa (Awakening) council, scheduled to be held today at the 8th Division HQ, a spokesman for the province’s tribal sahwa council said. “The march started today from the Diwaniya provincial building in the central part of the city to the 8th Division HQ, urging the government to cancel the 1st constituent conference,” Talal al-Zamli told IraqiNews.com. “The persons inside the constituent conference do not represent the council,” said Zamli, accusing the council of being “politicized by the Islamic Dawa Party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki”. Qahtan al-Azeez, a chieftain of the Khazaali al-Abtan clan, told IraqiNews.com that a political dispute has emerged between the Dawa Party and Shiite leader Abdelazeez al-Hakim’s Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) over elections. “Unfortunately, the Diwaniya clans were involved in this dispute and we hope that no sedition would be fomented among the clans,” Azeez said. He appealed to all tribal chiefs in Diwaniya to keep their distance away from this dispute and steer clear of any partisan affiliations. AmR (P) 2