- Dr Karim says Iraq needs international efforts in reconstruction, basic infrastructure
Iraqi Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Ali Yassin Mohammed Karim has said that Iraq’s success against the Islamic State in Mosul a historic victory against terrorism, which is not confined to Iraq only, it’s a global success of all peace loving nations.
Addressing a press conference at the embassy here on Friday, he opined that nine months ago, the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces announced the start of operations with the name (Ninawa, we are coming) to liberate the city of Mosul.
The liberation of Mosul was announced on the evening of Monday (July 10, 2017) by Prime Minister Dr Haider al-Abadi, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, from the heart of the city. He also toured its various areas, he informed the reporters.
“The last days of the battles were decisive and the confrontation was face-to-face within the old city’s bazaar,” Dr Karim said. Now the local government of the Mosul governorate would play the role of the city administration, he said.
He also said that a large number of the Iraqi Army and the anti-terrorism formations, the federal police and fighters from Iraqi tribes participated in the liberation of Mosul and these formations distributed on multiple axes according to the plan drawn and all committed to carry out their duties in accordance with the directives of the commander-in-chief.
He said that the liberation of the eastern part of the city was completed during a record period. “The anti-terrorist forces have been relied upon in most of the liberation operations on the western side of the city,” he said. The Iraqi envoy said that the operations of the western side were more difficult and complicated because of the nature of the neighbourhoods and the interlocking streets in the old city and the narrow roads.
“We need international efforts in the area of restoring stability to block the return of the Islamic State again,” he said, adding that the most important challenge was the reconstruction and stabilisation efforts for the city through the provision of the basic infrastructure to ensure the return of the displaced citizens.
He also pointed out that the Islamic State deliberately destroyed a large number of archaeological sites in the city such as Al-Hadhar, Nimrud and the tomb of the Prophet Jonah. Nearly two million citizens were displaced from Mosul due to the occupation of the city, he said. He said that they (militants) wanted to turn Mosul into training and re-export centre of terrorists to various countries as sleeper cells.
Interaction with media was with the special reference to Iraqi forces’ conquest over the Islamic State in Mosul.
