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IRAQ’S Communist Party (ICP) has condemned a “cowardly attack” on its headquarters in the oil-rich province of Basra, warning that it represents a threat to peace and the political process.
The party’s office was hit by a grenade on Sunday less than a month after a similar attack on its headquarters in the city of Nasiriyah.
It labelled the attacks “a serious violation of the Constitution and the law, and a violation of the offices of a legal political party” which has elected members in the Iraqi parliament and the country’s provincial councils, including in Basra and Nasiriyah.
“These attacks do not in any way constitute, as the miserable perpetrators may think and believe, a way out and a solution to the comprehensive crisis that our country is going through,” a statement said.
The ICP warned that those responsible are “unable to stop the march of reform and change” aimed at ridding the country of the “criminals who have looted and plundered public money” and have become rich in the face of poverty and hunger of millions of Iraqis.
Basra has been the scene of a large protest movement as the region struggles with water and electricity shortages along with rising unemployment and poverty.
Despite providing 80 per cent of Iraq’s oil, the revenue is collected by the central government in Baghdad with locals complaining that the wealth is not distributed fairly.
In April the southern Iraqi state’s provincial council passed a motion voting in favour of autonomy. A committee was established to take steps to support the move.
Iraq has been rocked by political instability which has intensified with the US threatening war on neighbouring Iran.
Last month the ICP called on the government to oppose war and refuse to be dragged into a regional conflict.
