JEDDAH - The government of Pakistan and especially its armed forces' support has strengthened Saudi Arabia’s resolve to fight against terrorism, Acting Secretary General of Islamic Military Alliance Lt Gen Abdulelah bin Usman Al Saleh said.

In an interview with APP, he said every citizen of Saudi Arabia had great respect for Pakistan’s political and moral support. “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong bonds of bilateral friendship, love and common faith, and in the coming years these relations would be converted into new shapes in the fields of economic and military cooperation.”

Presently, armies of 24 Islamic countries are working under the supervision of Lt Gen Abdulelah bin Usman Al Saleh and this alliance has unprecedented power and professional capabilities.

Responding to a question, he said the whole world, especially Muslim countries were facing the challenges of terrorism and required comprehensive strategy to deal with it.

He said extraordinary alertness and capabilities, from intelligence to every level of operation, were required against terrorism, otherwise elimination of terrorism would be difficult.

He said to effectively deal with terrorism, Joint Islamic Military Alliance was in the process of preparing a strategy in consultation with allied countries’ experts.

He termed intelligence agencies’ role and bilateral cooperation ‘vital’ to eliminate terrorism. He said Pakistan was facing the challenge of terrorism for last several years, and the way the Pakistan government, armed forces and media tackled the menace was appreciable.

He said Saudi Arabia had also learnt from the Pakistani government and armed forces strategy. He said the Islamic Joint Military Alliance admired Pakistan government and armed forces’ strategy to eliminate terrorism.

He said terrorists wanted to create sense of insecurity among people by carrying out subversive activities. To effectively tackle them, he said, greater unity and preparedness were required.

He said media could play a vital role to create awareness to deal with external and internal challenges in an effective way. He appreciated the role of Pakistani media for highlighting the sacrifices of Pakistan’s armed forces in war against terrorism and playing role for national unity.

He said in the present era, media had a role to have impact on all segments of the society, especially in ensuring peace and stability.

He called upon Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other allied countries’ media to discourage activities based on extremism.

He underlined the need for improved coordination among media houses of Islamic countries besides sharing their expertise with each other.