Pak min defends ex-army chief appointment as coalition head

Pakistan has defended the appointment of former army chief General Raheel Sharif as head of a Saudi Arabia-led 39-nation Islamic military coalition, saying it was an administrative decision and not linked to the conflict in Yemen.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said government took the decision to let Raheel proceed to take the command after a lot consultations.
"They (Saudi Arabia) first wrote a letter to our government regarding the matter some six weeks ago, after which the government discussed the matter internally and sent a written agreement to the proposal after a week," said Asif.
Asif defended the appointment of Raheel as head of the coalition as an administrative decision and not linked to the conflict in Yemen.

The minister said the coalition was against terrorism and not any country.
He said he would respond to the parliament if any question was raised by the Opposition.

The defence minister, however, remained cryptic when asked what other nations will be contributing to the coalition and said the details of the coalition will only be revealed after a meeting is held in May.
PML-N's Talal Chaudhary said no decision would be taken without the parliament's consent.
"As for the the Parliamentary Resolution of 2015, it stated that Pakistan would play a neutral role in the Yemen conflict to ensure an early resolution, the government will stick to that stance and the alliance will be a force to fight against the militant Islamic State organisation and other terror outfits," Chaudhary elaborated.