Fate of PMU under debate

By George Malbrunot

Although calls from foreign leaders and some Iraqi officials to disband Shi’ite militias, grand Shiite cleric Ayatollah al-Sistani shrugged off that request raising a big question mark over the position of more than 60,000 personnel in the Iraq’s future.

In a sermon delivered last week by his representative, al-Sistani lauded the role played by Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in eliminating ISIS demanding to be incorporated in the country’s security forces.

PMU had surfaced in 2014 when the Shi’ite cleric called on people to defend Iraq against ISIS who occupied large swaths of its territory and approached to the capital Bagdad.

To not sour the relations with Iran, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haidar Al Abbadi will maintain Iran-controlled paramilitary forces.

Similarly, the godfather of these militias, al-Sistani, will align with Al Abbadi to avoid any tension with Tehran.

PMU had been accused of abuses against Iraqi minorities in areas recaptured from the extremists. There are also concerns about its links to Iran, which has trained and armed many of its personnel.

Iran’s expansion in the Middle East (ME) is an enormous threat facing Arab countries which attempt to undermine its strategy in the region.

Expanding its regional influence, Iran uses militant groups comprising highly-qualified armed personnel as proxies in the ME. Houthis and Hezbollah are sorts of these groups posing a formidable challenge to the stability in the Arab region.

Al Abbadi is conscious of the risk these militias especially in his endeavors to bring about unity and reconciliation among all spectrums of Iraqi society.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on the Iraqi government to dismantle all militias, including the PMU.

Macron said that it is essential to gradually disarming these militias, demanding that all militant groups must be gradually dismantled.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also said that Iranian-backed militias and their advisers must go home.

According some Iraq’s officials, it is impossible to disband PMU because it was establishment by a legislation in 2016 before Mosul battle.

Iraq’s parliament passed a law in November last year that recognised the militias as a legitimate arm of the state and part of its official security apparatus.

As result, these militias will remain on the ground, but in other form which could be happened by incorporating them in the Iraqi security forces.

So the ME may meet with turmoil in the next phase.