BAGHDAD, July 21: The Iraqi National Assembly’s rush to finish a new constitution by mid-August ran into more trouble on Wednesday when the drafting committee’s Sunni members halted their work after the assassination of a colleague. The suspension of Sunni participation came on top of continuing deep divisions among committee members over such key issues as the independence of the governorates, control of the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk and the status of women.

The National Assembly is to approve a constitution by Aug 15 and then hold a nationwide referendum on the document. If assembly leaders decide the deadline can’t be met, they are supposed to inform the legislature by Aug. 1.

Humam Hamoodi, chairman of the constitutional committee and a member of the predominantly Shia United Iraqi Alliance bloc, minimized the significance of the Sunni suspension and promised that the committee would complete its work on time.

Sunni Arabs make up about 20 per cent of Iraq’s 26 million population and Shia around 60 per cent. Kurds, who are predominantly Sunni, make up about 15-20 per cent and the remainder is Christian or from other smaller sects.

“The aim behind the assassination … is to prevent the Sunni Arabs from participating in the political process, and to keep Iraq in a state of instability by trying to make the Iraqi constitution a failure,” he said.

Mijbil Issa, a Sunni Arab law professor, was gunned down in his car on Tuesday. Also killed were a legal adviser to Sunnis on the constitution-writing committee and a friend of Issa.

In the wake of the killing, other Sunnis on the panel said they had serious security concerns and complained about the lack of guards and accommodations for them in the capital’s heavily guarded Green Zone. Many government offices are in that area, and many high-ranking Iraqi officials are allowed to live there, along with international diplomats and other dignitaries.

“I just came back from the funeral of the two martyrs, and without security I am easily a target for attacks,” said Suha Azzawi, a Sunni member of the constitutional committee. Azzawi and other Sunni Arabs on the panel say they have found themselves in a difficult position.

“We were invited to participate in drafting the constitution; after that we were subjected to pressure from the government … and we received threats from the terrorists’ side and also from Sunnis accusing us of joining hands with the occupiers,” he said.

Issa was among 15 Sunni Arabs who joined the constitutional committee last month in a government effort to woo the disgruntled minority into the political process. Sunnis dominated the nation’s politics for decades until the ouster of Saddam Hussein.—Dawn/LAT-WP News Service