Balad – Dujeil Townships join Baghdad to protest against Salah al-Din’s plan to turn into “Region”

SALAH AL-DIN / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Balad and Dujeil Townships have joined Baghdad Governorate, to protest against Salah al-Din’s decision to turn into a fiancially and administatively independent “Region,” Balad’s Governor in Salah al-Din Province reported on Tuesday. “We have presened a joint demand on Monday, representing Balad and Dujeil Townships to the Council and Governorate of Baghdad, to joint them official in the event of Salah al-Din Governorate’s continuation to stick to its demand to announce itself a “Region,” and we have been received with appreciation by the officials of Baghdad Governorate in this respect,” Amer Abdul-Hadi told IraqiNews.com news agency. He said the “step was taken after a meeting of Balad Council, who voted by 16 members and absence of the remaining 5 others to join Baghdad Governorate, in protest to the persistance of Salah al-Din Counci to its “Region’s” project, which we we were not consulted about and the opinion of our tribal chieftains, religous clergymen and Civil Socirty organizations were not consulted about.” “We think that the timing of the announcement of the Regoin at a time when the American occupation forces are withdrawing from the country and the Iraqi Presidency’s Plan about Article 140 of the Constitution, along with the political differences witnessed by the Province with the Central Government, including recent detentions, have been among the reasons that pushed us to reject the project of the Region, that represents one of the proposals of (US Vice-President Biden’s) project to divide Iraq,” Abdul-Hadi stressed. Balad is 105 km to the south of Tikrity, the center of Salah al-Din Province, 175 km to the north of Baghdad.