Wounded Iraqi soldiers protest over delayed land rights
Shafaq News- Mosul
Wounded Iraqi army veterans staged a demonstration outside the Mosul Municipality building in Nineveh Province on Wednesday, demanding the distribution of residential plots formally allocated to them years ago.
The protesters told Shafaq News that their land files have been lodged with the relevant authorities since 2019 and that they hold official receipts, correspondence, and documents confirming their eligibility, yet no distribution has taken place.
The demonstrators acknowledged that the Ministry of Defense, the Army Chief of Staff, and the federal government have expressed support for their demands; however, the procedural steps required to complete the distribution remain blocked, and nobody has been specified as responsible for the delay.
Other categories of beneficiaries, including personnel from unnamed civilian branches, received land allocations in previous years, the protesters said. Army and police personnel have received none of the plots designated for them.
The demonstrators called on Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to intervene and resolve the matter, and they will continue their demonstrations until they receive a practical resolution to their land issues.
Nineveh, in northern Iraq, was among the provinces most heavily affected by the Islamic State conflict between 2014 and 2017, a period during which Iraqi security forces sustained significant casualties.
Iraq's government has long committed to providing residential land plots to wounded military and police personnel as part of a broader security forces entitlement framework, with allocations processed through the Ministry of Defense, the Army Chief of Staff, and local province authorities. Last week, the National Intelligence Service announced the distribution of more than 700 residential plots to its personnel in Baghdad —the fourth such batch under the government program.
Read more: Iraq’s land distribution plan faces legacy of unfinished projects
