Displaced devise survival tactics

Baghdad: Thousands of Iraqi families have been internally displaced as a result of the ongoing sectarian conflict. The Shiite and Sunni families who fled from their homes exchange assistance in Baghdad, but threatening to give rise to a Baghdad fragmented along sectarian lines.

Unlike Shiite and Sunni militias who spread violence based on sectarian identity, the daily life of the Iraqis is in its best cases an example of peaceful coexistence.

Umm Asaad, an Iraqi Shiite, was forced out from her house in the Sunni-majority Assaydia district, south of Baghdad, by armed men who claimed to be members of the 'Islamic State', an organisation linked to Al Qaida.

She described to Gulf News the overwhelming communal relations between the different sects.

"I remained evicted from my house in a Sunni majority district for five months. When I decided to bring my furniture, I agreed with a Sunni driver to come into the district and pick up my own things. After finishing his job he moved on to the main street outside Assaydia district where another Shiite driver was awaiting for him.

"They exchanged greetings and criticised the situation and made fun of it. When unloading finished, the Shiite driver drove me to my new area," she added.

Threats

Abu Othman, an elderly Sunni citizen, told Gulf News: "I abandoned my house in Al Baladyat district after receiving threats from gunmen, who claimed to be members of the Mahdi Army, eight months ago."

He added: "I called on my neighbour who is from Al Ameri Shiite clan.

"I ask him to assure the safety of my property [in Al Baladyat], in fact I gave him a duplicate of my keys. Sometimes his son stays in it lest it is looted by gunmen."

Umm Mahdi, a Shiite Iraqi citizen, told Gulf News: "Frankly speaking, long before the government's failure to establish stability, people had started their own survival tactics.

"Contacts started between Shiite and Sunni families to exchange houses. The Sunni families evicted from Shiite-majority neighbourhoods started giving their houses for the time being to Shiite families displaced from districts inhabited mainly by Sunnis and vice versa. This is how Shiites and Sunnis ensure their safety from gunmen responsible for sectarian violence."

The trend, however, seems alarming as it threatens to give rise to Shiite and Sunni cantons in Baghdad.

Despite the security plan for Baghdad entering its third month now, displacement of civilians continues and return of the displaced is still sluggish.

The plan has failed to achieve citizen-oriented goals so far. Some parts of the plan create certain solutions that seem intelligent and humane but also sectarian at the same time to cope with the displacement and its repercussions.