US interference delaying PMF Law, Shiite bloc claims
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The Fatah Alliance, led by Hadi al-Amiri, revealed on Thursday the reasons behind postponing the vote on the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Authority Law, attributing the delay to “US interference” and a desire to preserve internal stability.
The alliance is a part of the Shiite leading Coordination Framework (CF), the largest parliamentary alliance, along with State of Law Coalition (SLC), and others.
Fatah MP Intisar al-Jazaeri told Shafaq News that the legislation seeks to “strengthen political and military stability in the country” by regulating the work of the PMF Commission and reinforcing its integration into state institutions under the supervision of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
There is an intention to pass the law in the next parliamentary session with new amendments and additions that reflect the coming stage and serve national interests, she noted.
Earlier, Ibtisam al-Hilali, an MP from Nouri al-Maliki’s SLC, confirmed to our agency that parliament had postponed the PMF Authority Law to the next session due to political disagreements, adding that, at the time, disputes persisted even within the CF, leading to a loss of quorum and blocking the vote.
The PMF was formed in mid-2014 following a fatwa by Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, after the fall of Mosul to ISIS. In November 2016, parliament passed a law legalizing the PMF as a security institution within the armed forces, but the legislation lacked clear organizational details, prompting repeated calls for restructuring and legal clarification.
