Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's parliament on Tuesday approved recommendations to allow holders of official title deeds to build on land in the villages of Qaza Fakhra and Jliyokhan in the Nineveh Plains, stepping up pressure to implement a provincial decision upheld by the Federal Supreme Court last month.

The recommendations, prepared by committees formed under Parliamentary Order 74, call on the government to permit construction by deed holders and remove an earth berm surrounding the two villages, lawmaker Jamil al-Hadidi said at a news conference alongside other Nineveh representatives.

He said the Nineveh governor, the province's operations command and its municipalities directorate were given 30 days to implement the measures.

Al-Hadidi said the committees were formed to "return the rights to their owners, the holders of official deeds, who have suffered for years," adding that the plots had been distributed in stages since 1978 to residents from different communities across Nineveh.

The dispute intensified after the Nineveh Provincial Council voted in June to lift long-standing construction restrictions and authorize building permits on the land. The decision drew opposition from Shabak representatives, who argued that it could facilitate demographic change and undermine the rights of the area's original inhabitants.

The Federal Supreme Court rejected challenges to the provincial decision on September 7, but landowners have since complained that the ruling has not been fully implemented.

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