Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday confirmed the recent development that former army chief General Raheel Sharif (retd) was made the chief of 39-nation Islamic military coalition formed to combat terrorism. Speaking to a private TV channel, Asif admitted that an agreement in this regard was finalised a few days back; however, the defence minister said he didn't have much information at the moment about the details of the said agreement.

Asif said that the decision to appoint General Raheel, who retired in November 2016, was taken after taking the incumbent government into confidence and "it was finalised here first". The headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition would be based in Riyadh. The defence minister said that any such assignment or posting requires a proper clearance both from the government and General Headquarters (GHQ) 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 is a good step.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017