Pakistan army: Mecca pact aims for 'collective deterrence'

Pakistan's army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the trilateral Mecca defense pact with Türkiye and Saudi Arabia is intended strictly for "collective deterrence" and has no "regional aspirations," formalizing decades-old defense relationships between the three nations. Speaking to Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya, Chaudhry asserted that the agreement inked last month is defensive in nature, providing that an attack on one member state would be treated as an attack on all.

"It formalizes Pakistan's decades-old relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the brotherly country of Türkiye in the domains for collective deterrence and defense of the three countries," Chaudhry said in the interview broadcast Wednesday.

Strategic context

The alliance is "complementary" rather than competitive with other partnerships, Chaudhry said, adding that the three countries maintain independent relationships with other nations, including China. "It is defensive. There's nothing aggressive. There are no regional aspirations. It is collective deterrence," he said, stressing that the Pak-Saudi and Pak-Türkiye relationships have historical depth recognized by Beijing and the wider world.

Chaudhry maintained that operational details regarding defensive commitments would never be made public, stating that such matters are for the three countries to decide privately, while noting the pact is not exclusively for Muslim nations. The alliance's inaugural meeting was held in Istanbul on Aug. 31, where officials decided that Pakistan would initially head the secretariat for three years.