PMF blocks protest over Nineveh building restrictions

Shafaq News- Nineveh

Shabak Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)* prevented a planned protest on Saturday demanding the implementation of decisions allowing construction in Qaza Fakhra and Jliyokhan, two villages in the Nineveh Plains east of Mosul, a security source told Shafaq News.

Security personnel stopped protesters from gathering because organizers had not obtained the required legal and security approvals to hold the demonstration, the source explained.

In June, the Nineveh Provincial Council voted to lift long-standing construction restrictions on legally registered private land on the outskirts of Mosul, directing municipal authorities to issue building permits without delay. The decision prompted a legal challenge from lawmaker Qusay Abbas, who represents the Shabak, an ethnic and religious minority concentrated in the Nineveh Plains. Abbas accused the council of seeking to engineer demographic change in the area.

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court rejected the challenges in September, upholding the council’s decision. Speaking with Shafaq News, council member Humam Al-Salim described the ruling as ending years of restrictions that had affected thousands of families and property owners.

Despite the rulings, landowners complain of continued delays and obstruction in implementing the decisions.

*The Shabak PMF, also known as the 30th Brigade, is a predominantly Shabak formation within Iraq’s state-recognized Popular Mobilization Forces, established in 2014 as ISIS threatened Shabak communities in Nineveh province.

Read more: Nineveh Council lifts building restrictions on Mosul outskirts