While addressing concerns over the appointment of Gen (r) Raheel Sharif’s appointment as the commander of the 41-state Saudi led Islamic Military Alliance, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said every retired army officer has the right to be employed as per their desire.
During a meeting on foreign affairs headed by Awaid Laghari, the secretary further said the Islamic alliance is aligned against terrorism, reported Waqt News.
“Pakistan believes in unity of Islamic states especially against terrorism,” she said.
While commenting on hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Janjua stated that Pakistan is making efforts to reduce it.
“Pakistan will do its best to reduce the enmity between these two Muslim countries,” she told the committee.
About Pakistan-Iran border issues, the secretary clearly stated that there are no border conflicts between the two states.
“We even have two more crossing points on border with Iran,” she stated. “After ending of sanctions on Iran, our trade will also increase,” she added.
Earlier. former army chief General (retired) Raheel Sharif was made the chief Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif confirmed.
The minister confirmed the development during a talk show, and said that an agreement was finalised few days back in this regard. However, he denied having much information about the details of the agreement at the moment.
Khawaja Asif said that the decision was taken after taking the incumbent government into confidence and “it was finalised here first”.
The defence minister further said that such assignments or postings require proper clearance both from the government and General Headquarters (GHQ) and confirmed that the due process was followed before finalising the agreement.
“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,” said Asif. “Muslim Ummah is in a spot of bother right now and needs unity among its ranks.”
The Riyadh-based Islamic military coalition was announced by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman last year. A long list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, together with Islamic countries Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and Gulf Arab and African states were mentioned.
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said he was surprised to know about Pakistan's inclusion in the alliance. The Foreign Office, however, welcomed the Saudi announcement and pledged Pakistan's full support to the 39-nation Islamic military alliance.