Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey Sign ‘Islamic NATO’ Defence Pact

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have signed a new defence agreement that analysts say could alarm India. The pact, called the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, was signed on Friday. Under the deal, an armed attack on any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack on all of them. This mutual defence clause is similar to the principle behind NATO’s collective security guarantee. The tripartite agreement follows a separate bilateral defence deal between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed earlier. Analysts in New Delhi are concerned that Islamabad could use this pact to build broader security ties with other Muslim-majority nations in India’s neighbourhood. The agreement does not mention India directly, but its timing and scope have raised questions about regional power dynamics. For now, the pact is limited to the three signatories, but observers say it could serve as a foundation for wider military cooperation in the future.