- Military says operational details of Makkah defense alliance remain confidential
- Pact with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye treats attack on one member as attack on all
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s military on Thursday reaffirmed that its commitment to the security of Saudi Arabia and Islam’s two holiest mosques was “absolute,” though it said the operational details of a trilateral defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye remained confidential.
Speaking at a news conference in Pakistan’s garrison city of Rawalpindi, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said Islamabad remained committed to upholding the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement signed by the three countries.
The agreement, signed on Aug. 7 in Makkah, stipulates that an armed attack against Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or Türkiye would be considered an attack against all three countries.
“Pakistan’s commitment to Makkah alliance, Pakistan’s commitment to the security and stability of the Harmain Sharifain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is absolute,” Chaudhry said, referring to the two holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah. “There should be no doubt on it.”
Asked whether Pakistan had made any fresh deployment of troops to Saudi Arabia following a recent meeting of the military chiefs of the three countries in Riyadh, Chaudhry said details concerning the alliance’s operationalization were confidential.
“As far as the Makkah alliance and its operationalization and this, I think I have been, we have been communicating it earlier also, that the operationalization of the defensive actions under the Makkah alliance are a matter of operational necessity and confidentiality.”
In an interview with Arab News last month, Chaudhry had said Pakistan would go “to any extent” to defend Saudi Arabia against an attack.
His remarks came amid a wave of missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia targeting Saudi cities.
The Makkah agreement followed the signing of a separate Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in September 2025. That pact similarly provides that aggression against either country would be treated as aggression against both.
The latest remarks by Pakistan’s military come after a recent meeting of the top military commanders of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye in Riyadh, as the three countries continue to develop the framework of their defense alliance.
