PTI opposes Raheel joining Saudi-led military alliance
islamabad — The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has opposed the government’s decision to allow former chief of the army staff (COAS) Gen. (retd) Raheel Sharif to assume the command of a yetto-be-formed, Saudi-led 39-nation military alliance of Muslim states, reports Dawn online.
“We strongly oppose this decision and will soon raise the issue in the parliament,” PTI spokesman Fawwad Chaudhry told Dawn.
He said PTI Chairman Imran Khan had tasked three parliamentarians of the party — Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shireen Mazari and Shafqat Mehmood — with preparing a strategy under which a privilege motion and a calling attention notice would be moved in the National Assembly so that a threadbare discussion could take place there on the issue.
The PTI’s reaction came after an interview of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif was published in some newspapers on Sunday in which he revealed that the government had issued issue a no objection certificate (NOC) to the former army chief to lead the military alliance.
The PTI spokesman said his party was of the view that all parliamentary parties had decided in the parliament that Pakistan would remain neutral in the Middle East crisis. But the decision to issue the NOC to Gen Sharif is contrary to the parliament’s decision. “Even if the government had decided to issue the NOC to the former army chief, it should have come again to the parliament to give reasons why it wanted to do so,” he said.
The PTI spokesman said the 39-nation military alliance of Muslim states was apparently being formed against Iran and, therefore, the appointment of Pakistan’s former army chief as its commander would send a negative message that the country was also against Iran.