ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday confirmed a recent development that former army chief General (r) Raheel Sharif had been appointed the chief of 39-nation Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism.
Speaking during a talk show at a private TV channel, Asif admitted that an agreement in this regard was finalised a few days back. However, the minister said, he didn’t have much information at the moment about the details of the said agreement. Asif said that the decision was taken after taking the incumbent government into confidence and ‘it was finalised here first’.
The minister said that any such assignment or posting requires proper clearance from the government and the General Headquarters (GHQ) both and confirmed that the due process was followed before finalising the agreement. He was, however, unaware of the exact details.
“As you are aware that this thing was in the pipeline for quite some time and the prime minister was also part of the deliberations,” Asif said. He was of the opinion that formation of such an alliance was a good step, as the “Muslim Ummah is in a spot of bother right now and needs unity among its ranks”.
Pakistan had initially found itself in the crosshairs of Middle Eastern politics as Saudi Arabia named it as part of its newly formed military alliance of Muslim countries meant to combat terrorism, without first getting its consent. However, after initial ambiguity, the government had confirmed its participation in the alliance, but had said that the scope of its participation would be defined after Riyadh shared the details of the coalition it was assembling.
