PMF law heads to Iraq parliament this week
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Service and Retirement Law will reach parliament this week, lawmaker Dhia Al-Zaidi said on Sunday.
Read more: Iraq's PMF Service and Retirement Law: Is political exploitation inevitable?
During a news conference at parliament, Al-Zaidi, a member of former premier Mohammed Al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition, called on armed factions outside the PMF, a state security institution under government authority, to surrender their weapons and “come under state authority.”
The legislation is returning after an earlier version stalled over a dispute concerning the tenure of the PMF Commission chairman. On August 22, First Deputy Speaker Adnan Fayhan explained that extending the chairman’s service conflicted with retirement regulations and was the sole unresolved issue behind the draft’s withdrawal.
The existing PMF law gives the force legal status but does not fully regulate personnel, service, retirement, or administration. A draft approved by Al-Sudani’s government in February 2025 was referred to parliament but later stalled amid political disputes.
Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi has pledged to move ahead with the legislation. The State Administration Coalition, Iraq’s main ruling Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish political alliance, has set September 30 as the deadline for bringing weapons under state control, warning that armed activity outside official institutions after that date would fall under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law.
Read more: Days to disarm Iraq's factions: deadline or negotiable ceiling?
