Islamabad:
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were among world leaders who attended the Arab-Islamic summit in Doha earlier this week. Both leaders met on the sidelines of the collection. The Saudi Crown Prince, who also has the portfolio of prime minister, told his Pakistani counterpart he was ready to welcome him in Riyadh in two days.
It raised the eyebrows in terms of what was the need for Prime Minister Shehbaz to travel to Saudi Arabia as he had already met MBS in Doha. At the time, nobody except those who are at the helm – both in Riyadh and Islamabad – knew what was in store. Two days later there was another surprise.
When the Prime Minister’s aircraft entered the Saudi airspace, it was escorted by Saudi Air Weapons F-15 Jets. Saudi -Arabia and Pakistan have a long -term relationship, but in recent times it was not common for the Pakistani Prime Minister to receive that kind of welcome.
When he landed in Riyadh and later arrived at the Saudi palace for the meeting with the Crown Prince, it was clear that something extraordinary was happening. Even before the meeting between the two leaders started, messages were returned to the Islamabad authorities to light all government buildings with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s national flag. Similar orders were given to the Saudi authorities in Riyadh.
Just before midnight on Wednesday, after the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Saudi Crown Prince, the big news came.
The Prime Minister and the Saudi de facto ruler signed a landmark “Strategically Mutual Defense Agreement”. The covenant has the potential to reshape regional security dynamics at a time when the Middle East is undergoing deep upheavals, according to experts.
According to the agreement, any aggression against either Islamabad or Riyadh would be considered an attack on both. Both countries may have many years of defense ties, but the latest agreement goes beyond the traditional cooperation that the two states have long maintained.
While officials of Riyadh emphasized that the agreement is not a response to any single event, the timing makes it difficult to ignore the background of rising instability throughout the region.
The defense bond between the two countries is not new. For decades, Pakistani military teachers have been stationed in the kingdom, while Riyadh has come to Islamabad’s help during repeated economic crises. What separates the latest covenant is its formalization of joint deterrence, a clause usually associated with military alliances.
Accord suggests that both sides seek to raise their relationship beyond transaction schemes to a more binding security partnership. The optics of Shehbaz’s visit reinforced this message: His aircraft were escorted by Saudi jets, and the presence of the army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, emphasized the military’s share in the agreement.
For Islamabad, the agreement signalizes both possibility and risk, according to observers. On the one hand, it ensures a deeper commitment with a wealthy ally who has repeatedly served as Pakistan’s economic lifeline. On the other hand, the obligation to joint defense could draw Pakistan into conflicts far from its borders, somewhat consecutive governments have tried to avoid, especially after resisting Saudi pressure to participate in the Yemen war in 2015.
Nevertheless, Pakistan can also calculate that Riyadh’s growing defense diversification, investment in original weapons production and closer ties to China could be exploited to its own advantage.
It is also important to note that the approximation between Saudi -Arabia and Iran helped Pakistan’s case. Previously, Islamabad was on duty against explicit siding with Tehran or Riyadh due to wider implications. In fact, Ali Larijani, a senior help to the Iranian chief leader, met a senior helper with the Iranian chief leader, a senior help to the Iranian chief executive, a senior help to the Iranian chief leader. It is believed that the Saudi leader took the Iranian official in confidence in the impending agreement with Pakistan.
Employees in Islamabad also pointed out that after the Iran-Israel war in June, there has been a huge goodwill at Pakistan in Tehran. Therefore, they were of the opinion that the Pakistan-Saudi defense pact would not interfere with Iran.
Experts in Pakinomist-strategic issues say that Pakistan’s strategic capacity is India-centered and not for the implementation of any religious or ideological goals.
They also say that neither Pakistan nor KSA have any aggressive ambitions against any country; Therefore, any confusion created in this regard is based on assumptions with malicious goals.
The defense pact will also revive old traditional ties between the two countries. In recent years, it seems that Saudi Arabia has gone away from Pakistan and was close to India. There will now be a strategic shift in favor of Pakistan as Riyadh would be more susceptible to Islamabad’s concerns. Therefore, it came as no surprise that India was quick to respond to the Pak-Saudi-pact and insist that it will study its consequences for the region.
At a wider level, PACT emphasizes how Middle Eastern states are rapping their alliances in the midst of changing American commitment to the region. As Washington is increasingly reluctant to act as golf security guarantees, Riyadh looks up to create alternative mechanisms to protect its interests.
By adapting to Pakistan in such an explicit defense framework, Saudi Arabia not only taps Islamabad’s enormous military labor and expertise, but also sends a signal to both allies and opponents that it is expanding its safety umbrella.
While the true test of the agreement comes only in the event of a crisis, its message is solely a reminder of how turbulent the regional environment has become.
India says to analyze pact
India said on Thursday that it analyzed the “implications” after Saudi Arabia and nuclear armed Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact late on Wednesday, which strengthens a decades of old security partnership a week after Israel’s strikes on Qatar, the diplomatic calculation in the region.
Spokesman for external affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said in a post on X that India was aware of the development and that it would study its consequences for New Delhi’s security and for regional stability.
“We will investigate the consequences of this development for our national security as well as for regional and global stability. The government remains obliged to protect India’s national interests and ensure extensive national security in all domains.”
The statement added that the Indian government was already aware that the development, as it said “formalizing a long -standing arrangement between the two countries”, was under consideration.
The Saudi deal comes months after Pakistan fought for a short military conflict with India in May.
A senior Saudi official who spoke on condition of anonymity recognized the need to balance relations with Pakistan and India, also a nuclear power.
“Our relationship with India is more robust than it has ever been. We will continue to grow this relationship and try to contribute to regional peace no matter what way we can.”
Pakistan and India fought three major wars since the two countries were cut out of British colonial India in 1947.
After they both acquired nuclear weapons in the late 1990s, their conflicts have been more limited in scale due to the danger of nuclear assets coming into play.
(With additional input from Reuters)
