Differences over Iraq's constitution worked on

Amid the deteriorated security conditions in Iraq, leaders of the main Iraqi parties and blocs started on Sunday evening a meeting in Baghdad to discuss points of difference in the draft of the constitution.

The interim President Jalal al-Talibani told journalists before the beginning of the first meeting for heads of parliamentary groups that the "aim is to discuss the issue of the constitution and the points of difference as well as to make joint efforts to reach common ground," adding that a second meeting will be held next and will be attended by parties from outside the parliament.

Al-Talibani, who met on Sunday with the American ambassador in Iraq Zalmai Khalil Zada, denied that the US is imposing pressure on participants in the negotiations to drafting the constitution.

Differences exist on the issues of federalism, the city of Karkouk, the fate of the Kurdish Bashmerga police, the Islamic identity of Iraq, and its distribution of natural resources.

The crisis loomed with the announcement made by the Kurdish Leader, chief of Kurdistan area, Masoud al-Barazani, on the rights of the Kurds to demand independence from Iraq saying "but this should take place in the due time." He stressed affirmation of what he called the non alienable rights of the Kurdish people.

The Iraqi parliament is due to finalize the draft of the constitution by mid-August deadline, according to the state's administration report in the interim phase, and then to be set for a referendum on October 15 for approval.