Pak not consulted over inclusion in Saudi anti-terror coalition

December 16, 2015 13:04

On Tuesday Saudi Arabia surprised the world with its announcement that it has formed a 34-nation Islamic alliance against the Islamic State (Daesh).

But no one was more surprised, it seems, than Pakistan, which was named by Riyadh as part of the anti-terror alliance, as it had been include without its consent, reports Baqir Sajjad Syed in Dawn, Pakistan.

Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhary admitted as much and told the media that he had asked his ambassador in Riyadh to seek a clarification from Saudi Arabia on the matter.

But this was not the first time that Pakistan has been roped in by Saudi Arabia in such a coalition against its will and without consulting it. Earlier, too, it had announced that Pakistan was part of the coalition that carried our operations in Yemen, which Pakistan declined to join.

Islamabad's stated position has been that it will not send out troops outside its borders except for UN peacekeeping missions, and had even twice rejected America's calls to join an alliance against terror.

You can read the full report here.

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