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 Islamic military alliance: Pakistan not to comment on Iranian envoy’s remarks

By Mariana Baabar
April 04, 2017

Officials say Honardoost’s comments may well be for his home audience

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan says for the time being anyway it will not officially comment on the remarks made by Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost about the appointment of former army chief Gen (R) Raheel Sharif as head of the proposed Saudi-led 39 nation Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism.

Already , say officials, Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, has tried to win over Tehran during high-level meetings both in Iran and in Islamabad, and Honardoost’s comments may well be for his home audience where historically public opinion has been against Saudi Arabia and bilateral relations have never been smooth.

Honardoost told the Iranian state run news agency IRNA, “We are concerned about this issue... that it may impact the unity of Islamic countries…(even though Pakistan has taken Iran into confidence) that does not indicate that Iran is satisfied with this decision or it has accepted the same”.

Reacting to the subtle and diplomatic Iranian message, a senior official told The News, “I do not think we will be either reacting or issuing any statement at this juncture. There are times when states do not speak. Pakistan has been in touch with Iran on several occasions at the diplomatic level regarding this issue to impress upon Tehran that this coalition is not against any one country but rather one that will fight against all forms of militancy and terrorism”.

Earlier spokesman at the Foreign Office when questioned, had responded, “We have no knowledge of contacts between Saudi government and former army chief Raheel Sharif who has been appointed the commander of this force. The basic purpose of this force is counter terrorism. While Pakistan has joined the coalition, the terms of reference of counter terrorism operations are yet to be made”.

In fact so taken for granted was Pakistan that even before the government agreed to be part of the coalition, in the first press conference in Riyadh, Pakistan’s crescent and star was included with the flags of coalition partners.

Iran has expressed its reservations regarding the appointment of the former army chief, retired Gen Raheel Sharif, as head of the Saudi-led 39-nation Islamic military alliance, saying it is not ‘satisfied’ with the coalition.

IRNA quoted the ambassador as saying that Iran had conveyed its concerns to the Pakistani government.

He said Tehran had informed Islamabad that Iran would not become part of such a military alliance, adding that neither had Iran been extended an offer to join a coalition of this sort.

He proposed that all important Islamic countries come together to form a “coalition of peace” in order to resolve their issues “rather [than] forming a controversial military alliance”.

Pakistan also took up the issue of the coalition when Sartaj Aziz and Lt Gen (R) Zameerul Hassan Shan, Defense Secretary, met in February, with Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of Iran and Brig. General Hossein Dehgan Minister of Defence and Logistics ,in Iran.

Later in a meeting at the Foreign Office with Chairman of Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, Allaudin Boroujerdi, Sartaj Aziz impressed upon the Iranian dignitary that Pakistan valued its relations with Iran.

“We have fruitful cooperation in diverse areas of common interest”, he added.

Support for Pakistan heading the coalition also came last week from the National Security Adviser Gen (R) Nasser Janjua who said, “Raheel Sharif  will use his experiences and knowledge to remove internal misunderstandings among Muslim countries, and this will also benefit the anti-alliance countries, including Iran”.

At home, it is the chairman PTI who has voiced his disagreement to Pakistan heading this coalition, but it appears that after the meeting of Imran Khan with the army chief, he is likely to subdue his opposition to a policy fully backed by the army.