Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry told reporters Tuesday that he had been surprised to hear news regarding his country’s inclusion in the new alliance.
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Pakistan has expressed its surprise to hear that Saudi Arabia this week had declared it a part of a recently-formed 34-nation alliance against terrorism.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir said that the participating countries would themselves decide about the extent of their participation. However, the statement suggests that Pakistan is yet to take a decision in principle on joining the alliance.
It is pertinent to mention here that the 42nd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Kuwait this year had reiterated its commitment to relevant United Nations and OIC resolutions on combating terrorism and extremism and called for joining regional and worldwide efforts to fight terrorism and extremist thought.
He said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are close friends and they cooperate with each other in diverse fields.
The carefully worded official response suggested that Pakistan’s participation in the alliance will likely remain limited to the coordination, intelligence sharing and expertise in counter-terror efforts. “The only thing that needs to be decided is the extent of our participation in various activities of the alliance”.
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Pakistan supports regioal and global efforts for elimination of terrorism. Bin Salman shared that the countries would work together and target the terrorist groups, not just ISIL in countries like Iraq, Syria. Afghanistan has also not been included in the coalition.
