Shia Muslim delegation going to Iraq to discuss anti-IS measures

Shia Muslim group Anjuman-e-Haideri announced Saturday it will be sending a team for war-torn Iraq Monday to discuss modalities of sending its registered volunteers to protect holy shrines,and serve and rehabilitate victims tortured by the Islamic State(IS).

The Anjuman-e-Haideri (AEH), in a press conference here, said they had received "overwhelming" responses from volunteers who registered themselves to be on board to serve the people and religious sites from the dire threat posed by the terrorist group.

"The overwhelming response was triggered by IS threat to attack the shrines in Karbala, Najaf, Samarra and Kazimiya in Baghdad," said the group's general secretary Syed Bahadur Abbas Naqvi in a statement.

"The seix-member delegation is scheduled to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, his cabinet colleagues including ministers of interior affairs and endowments," he said.

Naqvi also said that the delegates will be meeting religious leaders as well.

The statement also said that "during the course of registration of volunteers for Iraq and its ongoing communication with Iraqi embassy in the capital were continuously shared with the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj".