ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani army chief General Raheel Sharif said on Wednesday a 41-nation Saudi-led military coalition that he heads was not established to counter any specific country or sect.
According to a statement issued by the Senate Secretariat, Sharif said the primary objective of the Saudi-led military alliance, officially known as the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC), was to counter and eliminate terrorism.
Pakistani Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani is currently in Saudi Arabia on an official visit.
"The Islamic military coalition was not formed to take action against any country, nation or sect," Sharif said in a briefing to the Senate chairman at the IMCTC headquarters in Riyadh, referring to accusations that the alliance was formed as an anti-Shia bloc.
The IMCTC was formed in December 2015 as a result of an initiative taken by Saudi Arabia. Pakistan’s former top military chief was appointed to lead the coalition as its first commander-in-chief in January 2017. General Sharif retired in 2016, the first Pakistani army chief in more than 20 years not to seek an extension to his term.
Saudi-led military alliance not country or sect specific: Raheel Sharif
Saudi-led military alliance not country or sect specific: Raheel Sharif
- Pakistan’s former army chief who heads alliance briefs Senate chairman in Riyadh
- Says primary objective of the coalition is to weed out terrorism
Pakistan issues over $7 billion sukuk in 2025, nears 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target
- Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad says this was the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008
- Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court ordered in 2022 the entire banking system to transition to Islamic principles by 2027
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad on Monday said the country achieved a landmark breakthrough in Islamic finance by issuing over Rs2 trillion ($7 billion) sukuk this year, bringing it closer to its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by Fiscal Year 2027-28.
A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond, but it complies with Shariah law, which forbids interest. Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) had directed the government in April 2022 to eliminate interest and align the country’s entire banking system with Islamic principles by 2027.
Following the ruling, the government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have undertaken a series of measures, including legal reforms and the issuance of sukuk to replace interest-based treasury bills and investment bonds.
“In 2025, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) through its Debt Management Office, together with its Joint Financial Advisers (JFAs), successfully issued over PKR 2 trillion in Sukuk,” Schehzad said on X, describing it as “the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008 by Pakistan.”
Pakistan made a total of 61 issuances across one-, three-, five- and 10-year tenors, according to the finance adviser. The country also successfully launched its first Green Sukuk, a Shariah-compliant bond designed to fund environment-friendly projects.
He said the Green Sukuk was 5.4 times oversubscribed, indicating investor demand was more than five times higher than the amount the government planned to raise, which showed strong market confidence.
“The rising share of Islamic instruments in the government’s domestic securities portfolio (domestic debt) underscores strong momentum, growing from 12.6 percent in June 2025 to around 14.5 percent by December 2025, clearly positioning the MoF to achieve its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by FY28,” Schehzad said.
“This milestone also reflects the structural deepening of Pakistan’s Islamic capital market, sustained investor confidence, and the strengthening of sovereign debt management.”
He said Pakistan was strengthening its government securities market by making it more resilient, diversified, and future-ready, supported by a stabilizing macroeconomic environment, a disciplined debt strategy, and a clear roadmap for Islamic finance.
