Pressure on Maliki to step Down

militancy// The United Nations asked Iraq leaders to overcome their differences and form a new government that can face militant threat to save the country from plunging into chaos. The Sunni militant attack over last two month have driven Iraq into its deepest crisis since the last American troops left in 2011. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has ruled the country since 2006, is under pressure to step down. His government is accused of inability to prevent the attack and has lost confidence of the tinternational community to lift the country out of crisis. Most of Maliki’s former allies accuse him of trying to monopolise power and alienating the Sunni community.

Meanwhile, the government is taking help of thousands of volunteers who joined Iraqi army to save the country from Sunni militants. Around 4,000 volunteers were airlifted to Ramadi to boost the forces trying to defend the city from militant attack. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar, a Sunni-majority province and one of the most active battle fronts in Iraq. The Islamic State extremist group and other Sunni militants seized control of the Anbar city of Fallujah and some parts of Ramadi in January. The vast majority of volunteer fighters in Iraq are Shias who have consented to a call from the Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to defend the country from the Sunni militants led by the Islamic State group. The government’s move to take support of Shia volunteers to counter militants’ threat has led to rise in sectarian tensions.