Adhabmiya, Kadhemiya residents welcome bridge re-opening

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Several local residents of the northern Baghdad districts of al-Adhamiya and al-Kadymiya welcomed the re-opening of al-A’ima bridge as an “opportunity to strengthen ties binding the two areas”. “Now we can easily enter al-Adhamiya like we used to do in the past. We, however, have never felt the bridge was closed because the inhabitants of those two areas have always been bonded by fraternity,” Ahmed Hashim, a 40-year-old resident of al-Kadhemiya, told IraqiNews.com. The Baghdad Operations Command (NOC) recently re-opened the bridge after three years of closure due to a deadly stampede during the Imam Kadhim Shiite pilgrimage in 2005. The inaugural ceremonies were attended by clerics, chieftains and notables in expression of unity and revived ties between local residents in the two areas. “We used to play traditional games with the Adhamiya people during the past holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Iraq is one inseparable part that can never be divided by means of concrete barricades or closed bridges,” Hashim said. Women and children were among the victims who fell off the bridge and drowned in the river or trampled to death on August 31, 2005 after rumors that there was a suicide bomber among the crowds on that bridge, which was closed at one end by a security checkpoint. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims then were heading for al-Kadhemiya to revive the death anniversary of Imam Musa al-Kadhem, the seventh holiest top figure for Twelver Shiites. The inhabitants of al-Adhamiya then had stretched helping hands for the drowning people and helped save their lives. More than ten renowned divers of al-Adhamiya drowned in the rescue efforts. Journalists Firas al-Qaysi, an inhabitant of al-Adhamiya, said the bridge “should have been re-opened a long time ago. Unfortunately, it had acted as a dividing line between two areas that have always been marked by fraternity ever since it was first built in 1957”. He said it was a new good initiative on the part of the government, though, to re-open the bridge that should enhance bonds of endearment and closeness between the residents of the two districts. Muntaha al-Obaidi, a woman who lives in Adhamiya, said the step indicates that violence toned down in both areas and security improved in Baghdad in general, calling on the government not to close the bridge or any other bridges in Iraq again. “Closing bridges could have a negative impact on the people,” said Obaidi, a 27-year-old government employee. Ibtessam al-Anbari, a 39-year-old resident of al-Kadhemiya, also a government employee, told IraqiNews.com that the bridge re-opening would help revive trade exchange activities. “The people of al-Adhamiya used to buy gold and costumes from al-Kadhemiya while those of al-Kadhemiya used to go to al-Adhamiya to purchase imported garments that they did not have something like in their area,” she said. Al-A’ima (Imams) bridge was built over the River Tigris to link al-Adhamiya to al-Kadhemiya. It was named so because there were two large cemeteries in which the remains of several Muslim scholars were buried in those two areas. The cemeteries are the Quraysh, in which Imam Kadhem was buried in Kadhemiya, and the al-Khayzoran, in which Imam Abu Hanifa al-Numan was buried in al-Imam al-Adham Mosque, in addition to the remains of several other scholars and imams. AmR (I) 1