Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security Lieutenant General Nasser Khan Janjua (Retd) on Friday said the decision to allow former Army Chief General Raheel Sharif (Retd) to head the 41-member military alliance of the Islamic countries was taken in the best national interest. In an informal chat with reporters after briefing an in-camera session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on national security perspective of Pakistan, Lieutenant General Janjua (Retd) said that General Sharif by heading the military alliance will benefit Pakistan.

"The decision was taken by keeping in view the best national interests of the country as well as for the larger benefit of the country and not to harm the national interests of Pakistan," the national security adviser told reporters in a brief informal chat.

He was commenting on the no objection certificate (NOC) issued to the former army chief after getting approval from General Headquarters (GHQ) and his departure for Riyadh on a special Saudi plane on Friday to formally join his new job. The committee meeting was chaired by Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari who later told journalists that the members expressed satisfaction over the briefing given by the national security adviser, especially with regard to Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

He said that the committee recommended that a balanced approach should be adopted in maintaining cordial and good relations with the brotherly countries - Saudi Arabia and Iran. To a question about Iran's reservations on General Raheel Sharif (Retd) to head the Saudi-led military alliance, Leghari said that Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost had recently held fruitful meetings including the one with Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. "This alliance [of Islamic countries] is not against any other country but against terrorism," Leghari added.

He said the national security adviser also briefed the committee on the situation in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan's relations with the neighbouring countries including India. He said the committee members observed that the United States is revisiting its Pakistan and Afghanistan policies and the government should concentrate on its own priorities keeping in view the national interests. Leghari said the national security adviser, in his briefing, described the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a game-changer for the region which would promote regional integration and co-operation.

The meeting was also attended by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shireen Mazari, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiyar, Naeema Kishwar Khan and others.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017