The government said last month it will disband the groups, known as Awakening Councils in some regions and Concerned Local Citizens in others, after restive areas are calmed. It said it did not want them to be a separate military force and would not allow them to have any infrastructure, such as offices.
The Sunni militias, more than 70,000-strong, have been credited by US commanders as being instrumental in what they say is a nearly 60 percent reduction in violence in the last six months. It also was affected by the dispatch of additional US troops and a six-month cease-fire declared in August by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his militia.
But Maliki's government has been deeply uneasy about the potential for the Sunni fighters - now better organized and armed - to switch sides again, posing a threat to stability and the Shi'ite domination that followed the ouster of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime.
However, Hakim, head of parliament's largest bloc and the country's most powerful political party, was conciliatory in his comments yesterday, although his praise for the Sunni groups was moderate and he did not say whether their future role should be permanent.
Noting the decline in violence, he said the credit should go to the role played by the groups, adding: "We still believe in the necessity of continuing with this strategy."
"Today, we are witnessing the decline of terrorism and the progress of reconciliation on the popular level with Sunni-Shi'ite solidarity," he said, alluding to the government's perceived failure to achieve political reconciliation between Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish groups.
Hakim, who was diagnosed with cancer last year but has been in relatively good health after chemotherapy in Iran, spoke to supporters in the holy city of Najaf.
He has long called for the use of "popular" forces in the fight against insurgents, but these calls were generally understood to mean giving Shi'ite militias a free rein in taking on the Sunni insurgents, many of whom have now switched allegiances and are fighting alongside US and Iraqi forces.
