Raheel Sharif appointed Commander-in-Chief of Islamic Military Alliance

Pakistan’s recently retired Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on 6 January 2017 was appointed the first Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Military Alliance (IMA).

The Islamic Military Alliance is an intergovernmental military alliance of multiple Muslim Countries. Through IMA, these countries come together for military intervention against ISIL and other counter-terrorist activities.

About Raheel Sharif

• General Raheel Sharif is a retired four-star rank general in the Pakistan Army.

• From 29 November 2013 to 29 November 2016, he served as the 15th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army.

• He carried out Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan, which stabilized the North-west of Pakistan.

• He expanded the role of paramilitaries in Karachi. This widely reduced the level of violence in Pakistan's commercial capital.

• He developed a new brigade-level military unit to help protect and secure the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

• He was the first Pakistani general to retire on time and not seek an extension in over two decades.

About Islamic Military Alliance

• The Islamic Military Alliance is officially named as Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT).

• There were 34 members in the alliance when the coalition was announced. By March 2016, the membership rose to 39.

• It is based at a joint command centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

• Its creation was first announced on 15 December 2015 by Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia.

• The alliance aims at protecting the Muslim countries from all terrorist groups and terrorist organizations irrespective of their sect and name.

• It has stated that it will fight terrorists in "Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan".

• It will operate in line with the United Nations and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) provisions on terrorism.

• Its only nuclear-armed member is Pakistan.