Fears haunt refugees venturing back home

Baghdad: Hundreds of displaced Iraqi families are moving back to their homes, a week after implementation of the new security plan "Imposing Law", a week ago.

Brigadier Qasim Al Mussawi, Baghdad security plan spokesman, said more than 630 families have returned to their homes accompanied by Iraqi military troops after fleeing from the sectarian violence and ethnic cleansing.

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Immigrants' statistics, more than 35,000 Iraqi families were displaced after receiving threats from terrorists.

Umm Kaisar, a Shiite citizen living in a Sunni-majority Al Saydia district, told Gulf News: "I left my house in September after finding a threat letter left under the door one morning. It was the worst day I have ever lived.

"By the grace of God, I was able to return home a few days ago after implementation of the new security plan. Yet we decide to lock the doors before 4pm and not to meet any visitors - we are still scared and cautious."

Armed Shiite and Sunni extremists exploited the absence of state authority in most of Baghdad neighbourhoods to wage violent and broader campaigns of displacements based on sectarian identity.

The campaigns try to segregate Iraqi capital into a majority Shiite sector where Sunnis are prohibited and a Sunni neighbourhood where Shiites are forced out.

Sami Al Rawi, a resident of Shiite-majority Al Karada district, told Gulf News: "I was forced to leave my house last June because of the intolerable situation. Despite that the people are good and considered the true original residents of Baghdad.

"After the arrival of Shiite political parties in the district, two men asked me, in threatening tone, to flee the neighbourhood. And so I did."

He added: "Five days ago, I was able to move back to the neighbourhood I lived and the people I love."

Tents for the displaced

Tents are erected in some open areas in Sunni and Shiite Iraqi governorates to accommodate more than one million internally displaced Iraqis.

The areas resemble Palestinian refugee camps in Arab countries during the Israeli occupation in 1948.