REFERENCE your editorial ‘Saudi-led alliance’ (July 20), advising the former chief of the army staff Gen Raheel Sharif to unilaterally reconsider his position as head of the ghost military alliance. It also advised the government to cancel the NoC issued to him.

The alliance has no value in the current regional volatile situation as it has been constituted to protect Saudi interests instead of safguarding the interests of other Muslim countries, including Pakistan.

The alliance is aimed at countering Iranian influence in the region as it did in Yemen.

Our foreign affairs adviser has shared irrelevant and unauthentic information with parliament, saying that Pakistan-Saudi interaction in the existing regional perspective is quite beneficial to the two countries but he fails to explain what is its utility for Islamabad.

We have great religious attachment with the kingdom and will protect it even at the cost of our lives if there is any threat to the holy places.

But if Ryiadh pokes its nose into others’ affairs and creates a rift between Shia and Sunni communities, Pakistan should avoid it, nor should it cooperate with Iran. Instead its stand should be impartial.

Guldar Khan Wazir

Loralai

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2017