Karbala hosts displaced Iraqis following Ayatollah al-Sistani's decree

Rasa - Karbala is hosting some 12,000 displaced Iraqi families; an estimation of 90,000 IDPs.

News ID: 1626

Date: 14 November 2014 - 05:35

RNA - Answering the religious decree issued by top Shia cleric, Sayyed Ali al-Sistani, Karbala has opened pilgrims' housing projects and mosques for the displaced people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Local officials say the international support for IDPs flowing into Karbala has been shy. They say the main source of assistance has been the donations from the Imam Hussein and Aba al-Fadel al-Abbas shrines; this is in addition to the aid provided by civil rights organizations and individual donors.

Karbala has also established round-the-clock medical centers providing free medical services for the displaced and vaccines for the young.

The majority of the refugees in Karbala have come from the provinces of Nineveh and Anbar.

Officials have told Press TV that though their efforts have been great, they are faced with a great deal of obstacles at the bureaucratic level.

On the 20th of the second lunar month of Safar, Karbala hosts the annual Arba’een commemoration, which marks the passing of 40 days after the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the third Shia Imam.

Local authorities here expect that millions of mourners will flow into Karbala to take part in this year's commemorations. Karbala has begun building a camp to shelter the growing number of IDPs it’s hosting. However, with the stalemate going on, local authorities here are worried that they might not be able to meet their deadline before Arba’een.

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