Father in penury-struck Diala throws his children into river

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: An arrest warrant was issued against a man who has reportedly thrown his children into the Diala River to wash his hand of their needs after he failed to make both ends meet, a security source in the province of Diala revealed on Friday. “A man from al-Khalis district, (15 km) north of Baaquba, hurled his two children into the river but some pedestrian managed to save their lives,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. Some of the man’s relatives and neighbors ascribed what he has done to a financial malaise after he was rendered handicapped from an improvised explosive device (IED) blast, resulting in his inability to work and consequently losing his job. The man, whose wife separated from him, had to sell his furniture and later on his house so and his children may eat. Heart-broken and stung by abject poverty, he threw his own children into the river. Meanwhile, Rassim Ismail, an advisor for the governor of Diala for reconstruction & investment affairs, told IraqiNews.com that Diala is ranked the 8th most impoverished Iraqi province, hitting a rate of 39% of its total population of 1.350 million. “The problem of poverty in Diala has reached scary proportions that require quick intervention and more intensive efforts to overcome it,” said Ismail. He added that the rate goes even higher in rural areas compared to urban centers and towns. Ismail, however, expected the coming stage to “see a remarkable improvement in the per capita income in Diala after security conditions became better and several projects offering job opportunities for the unemployed were set up there. On the other hand, tribal and academic figures warned against the negative repercussions of poverty on the security and social conditions, particularly in hot spots. “Poverty is one of the factors that contribute to a rising rate of violence. Most of the armed groups in Iraq, namely those active in Diala, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, like al-Qaeda organization, are trying to win recruits suffering from poverty by offering their money so as to use them to carry out armed operations,” Amer Ali, an academician, said. Sheikh Mohammed al-Sa’eed, a notable in Diala, urged the local administration in the province to oblige companies implementing service projects there to employ Diala in order to help alleviate unemployment and eradicate the problem of poverty. AmR (I) 92