Raheel Sharif gets govt NOC to head Saudi-led military alliance

ISLAMABAD: Army Chief General (retd) Raheel Sharif was issued on Fridaya no-objection certification (NOC) from the government to join as Chief of Saudi-led Islamic military alliance of 39 countries, ARY News reported.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday confirmed that former Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has been granted NOC for his appointment after endorsement from the GHQ.

Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif today left for Riyadh in a special Saudi plane, which had arrived to pick him up earlier today.

On January 11, Khwaja Asif had said that former army chief General Sharif didn’t seek ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) for any foreign vocation.

Issuing a statement in the Senate, Asif had said the Defence Ministry issues NOCs to retired army officers for any such jobs, but Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif didn’t seek any such clearance or certificate.

He maintained that prior permission either from Defence Ministry or the Pakistan Army was a prerequisite for any retired army officer before undertaking a new foreign job.

Formation of Islamic military alliance

Saudi Arabia on December 15, 2015 had announced the formation of Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, a move welcomed by the United States which has been urging a greater regional involvement in the campaign against the militants who control swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The Saudi statement described the military alliance’s objectives as: “a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organizations, whatever their sect and name, which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorize the innocent.”