Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, has opposed calls to disband a controversial paramilitary force which was instrumental in defeating ISIL group in the country.
Iraq is "always in desperate need of heroic men who have backed up the army and federal police and who fought alongside them on different fronts", said Abdel Mahdi Al Karabalai, the ayatollah's representative.
"We need to continue to benefit from this important source of energy, within the constitution and judicial framework," he said in a sermon at Friday prayers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, south of the capital.
Mr Al Karabalai stressed that the Hashed Al Shaabi's arms belonged to the state and its mission was to defend national security.
The force was established in 2014 after Mr Al Sistani urged Iraqi citizens to take up arms against ISIL militants who had swept aside government forces and seized control of much of northern Iraq.
But the Hashed, a Shiite-dominated alliance, remains deeply divisive and has been accused of a string of abuses.
Known in English as the Popular Mobilisation Units, the various forces within the Hashed can field a total of between 60,000 and 140,000 fighters.
Iraq's parliament has classed it as a state force operating within the constitution.
Calls have been growing from the West for the Hashed to disband, with French president Emmanuel Macron proposing "a gradual demilitarisation" of the group and for all militias in Iraq to be "dismantled".
On Monday, the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr ordered his fighters in the Hashed Al Shaabi, known as the Saraya Al Salam, or Peace Brigades, to disband and hand over territory held by them to state security forces.
But Hashed spokesman Ahmad Al Assadi, who is also a member of parliament, said that Mr Al Sistani wanted the Hashed units to be retained as part of Iraq's security system.
The Hashed suffered 7,637 dead and 21,300 wounded in the three-year war to drive out ISIL, according to a top Hashed commander, Qais Khazali.
Iraq declared final victory over ISIL on December 9, saying the extremist group had been driven out of all the Iraqi territory it once held.
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Read more:
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric orders fighters to disarm after defeat of ISIL
Iraq finds reconciliation, not points of contention, in united battle against ISIL
US congress seeks to impose sanctions on Shiite militias in Iraq
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Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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The specs
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Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
