Iraqi government to send Popular Mobilization Forces bill to parliament within a week

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's Parliamentary Reconstruction and Development Bloc said the government has pledged to submit a draft law regulating the service and retirement conditions of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to parliament within roughly a week. Bloc head Bahjah al-Araji told reporters at the parliament building that recent deaths among PMF members have made the legislation urgent, and that the bloc has already begun drafting its own version while consulting other political forces. Al-Araji said the bloc received indications from the Prime Minister's Office that a government-prepared draft exists and will be transmitted to parliament shortly, and set an internal deadline of about a week for that to happen. Once the draft arrives, the bloc said, the legislative process will begin. The PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, was formed in mid-2014 after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for jihad in defense of the country following the Islamic State's seizure of Mosul. In November 2016, Iraq's parliament approved legislation formally recognizing the PMF as an official security institution within the armed forces, but calls have continued for the law to be restructured due to the absence of detailed regulatory provisions. No further details on the timeline for parliamentary debate were immediately available.