Raheel Sharif appointed chief of Islamic anti-terror alliance
January 08, 2017  16:52
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Pakistan's recently retired army chief General Raheel Sharif will head the Saudi Arabia-led 39-nation Islamic military coalition formed to combat terrorism, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said.

Asif, while speaking during a talk show on Geo TV, admitted that an agreement in this regard was finalised a few days ago.

He said the decision was taken after taking the incumbent government into confidence and it was finalised here first. The headquarters of the new Saudi-led coalition would be based in Riyadh.

Asif said that both the government and army were on board regarding the decision to let General Raheel take charge of the alliance.

He, however, refused to share the details of agreement under which Raheel has been appointed the chief of the Saudi-led alliance.

'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 was quoted as saying.

Raheel retired as the army chief in November and has been succeeded by General Qamar Javed Bajwa. -- PTI
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