Baghdad- INA
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Head Faleh Al-Fayyadh said on Thursday that ongoing security challenges require the presence of strong security forces, including the PMF, describing the force as a permanent necessity.
Speaking during the “Special Interview” program broadcast by Al Iraqiya News and followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Al-Fayyadh said the PMF emerged as the Iraqi people's response to the threat posed by ISIS.
“The challenges facing the country require strong security forces, including the Popular Mobilization Forces, which remain a lasting necessity,” he said.
Al-Fayyadh added that orders issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to sever organizational and political affiliations are intended to strengthen the PMF and establish it as an institution that does not overlap with other entities.
He noted that the separation of political affiliations is stipulated in the law governing the PMF and that successive directives have reinforced the principle that the force should not be linked to political frameworks.
“The PMF law requires its members to sever ties with political and partisan entities and prohibits them from engaging in political activity,” Al-Fayyadh said, adding that the organization is responsive to the government's policies and will contribute to the success of its program.
He stated that groups that have completed the separation process are now officially affiliated with the PMF, noting that the PMF Commission will participate in organizing the deployment of security forces in Samarra following the decision by Saraya Al-Salam to join the initiative aimed at restricting weapons to state control.
Al-Fayyadh also said that the Popular Mobilization Forces were not an official party to the recent conflict and had received no orders to intervene.
