“It is in this context that Pakistan welcomes the formation of the 34-nation alliance to counter terrorism and is awaiting further details to decide the extent of its participation in different activities of the alliance”, the Spokesman said.
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However, the new Islamic alliance will not have its own stand-alone army.
While announcing the coalition in Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman said the new coalition is aimed to “coordinate” efforts to fight terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan.
Islamabad appears to have been caught off guard after Saudi Arabia named Pakistan as part of a new 34-member alliance of Islamic countries against terrorism.
Separately, a senior government functionary told the Express Tribune that he could not confirm whether Pakistan had joined the Saudi alliance.
The Islamic State said earlier that it will overthrow the Gulf monarchies and has started to attack security forces and Shi’ite Muslim mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
As Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi had said, Arrmanatha added, the government would first ensure that Saudi Arabia’s intention to form this coalition was in line with Indonesia’s principles and law, as the decision to join would reflect Indonesia’s serious commitment to global action.
In a tweet uploaded in its official twitter handle, Oman’ foreign ministry has welcomed the Saudi’s move to set up the coalition to fight terrorism.
However, Saudi’s neighbouring Islamic nations such as Iran, Syria and Iraq were excluded from the alliance. Saudi Arabia has done the same in past when the name of Pakistan was mentioned as Saudi ally against Yemen without consulting Pakistan.
Along with Saudi Arabia, the coalition reportedly includes Pakistan, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Turkey, Tunisia, Djibouti, Sudan, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania and Yemen, in addition to 13 African states.
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Pakistan later declined to join the Yemen war.
