A leading Pakistani newspaper on Sunday urged the Government to pull out of the Saudi-led military alliance, saying its anti-Iran stance was harmful to Islamabad's interests.
The Dawn said in an editorial that Pakistan's decision to participate in the Islamic Military Alliance and to allow former Army chief General Raheel Sharif to accept militarily head it “appear to have been taken in haste”.
The alliance “may have some counter-militancy aims but it is also increasingly clear that it has been conceived by the kingdom as an anti-Iran alliance”, the Dawn said. The editorial said the Muslim world did need leadership and coordination in the fight against militancy, terrorism and theoretically the IMA could be a meaningful platform. But it should have involved the entire Islamic world.