Baghdad, Erbil to jointly probe missing persons in Kirkuk

Shafaq News/ Iraq's federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will establish a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of hundreds of Iraqi citizens in Kirkuk, Said al-Jayachi, a top national security officer, revealed on Saturday.

"We are in Kirkuk on an official government mission per an authorization from a supreme committee sanctioned by the Iraqi prime minister," al-Jayachi, a National Security Advisor for Strategic Affairs, said in a joint press conference with Speaking at a joint press with Arshad al-Salehi, the rapporteur of the human rights committee in the Iraqi parliament, and the Acting Governor of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jubouri.

The advisor said that Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani's government attaches huge importance to the reports about missing family members.

"A high-level directive was issued to the National Security Advisory, leading to the formation of this committee," he said, "it includes representatives from the National Security Advisory and other main security institutions in the country, as well as the Ministry of Interior in the Kurdistan Region and the Asayish in Sulaymaniyah."

Al-Jayashi said that the National Security Advisor, Qasimal-Araji, visited the Kurdistan region recently, and" Erbil expressed full readiness to cooperate and share information, provide complete support in the search for citizens confirmed as missing, detained, or of unknown fate."

"Similar sentiment was expressed in Sulaymaniyah during a high-level meeting with the committee," he added.

" The committee held its first meeting in Baghdad at the Prime Minister's office to lay the groundwork for its activities. The committee received lists with thousands of names and decided to establish new procedures for handling precise information. This includes introducing a form and establishing a sub-committee in Kirkuk, supervised by the governor and involving all security agencies in the governorate, as well as the Human Rights Commission office," the advisor continued.

Al-Jayashi noted that the sub-committee will operate for two consecutive months, beginning its work on the 15th of November, welcoming any Iraqi citizen or family claiming to have relatives who are missing, detained, or of unknown fate through the designated form.