SULAIMANI (ESTA) — At least 30,000 former members of Hashid al-Shaabi are to be reinstated and receive their salaries, according to the paramilitary group.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said the ministry of finance had given greenlight for the reintegration of 30,000 members into the force, which operates formerly under the umbrella of Iraq’s security apparatus.
PMF chairman Falih al-Fayyadh said on television that the group would use its own funds to finance the rehiring operation, according to AFP.
He also urged the government to re-enroll others who had been laid off.
Ahmad Assadi, a leader of Hashid’s bloc in parliament, told AFP that most of them had been sacked between 2015 and 2018, with absenteeism the most common cause.
The announcement follows months of demonstrations by ex-members whose jobs had been terminated, the news agency reported.
The PMF, set up in 2014 to back up the Iraqi army, has more than 160,000 members and is comprised of dozens of mostly pro-Iran Shia groups.
