Islamabad:
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman were among the world leaders who attended the Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha earlier this week. Both leaders gathered outside the meeting. The Saudi heir prince, who also holds the prime minister portfolio, told his Pakistani counterpart that he was ready to welcome Riad in two days.
He raised his eyebrows on what was the need for Prime Minister Shehbaz to travel to Saudi Arabia when he had already met MBS in Doha. At that time, no one, except those who are at the helm, both in Riad and Islamabad, knew what was in the store. Two days later, there was another surprise.
When the prime minister’s plane entered the Saudi airspace, he was escorted by the F-15 aircraft of the Saudi Air Force. Saudi and Pakistan Arabia have a long data relationship, but in recent times it was not common for the Pakistani prime minister to obtain that type of welcome.
When he landed in Riad and then he arrived at the Saudi Palace for the meeting with the heir prince, it was evident that something extraordinary was about to happen. Even before the meeting between the two leaders began, the messages were transmitted to the authorities in Islamabad to illuminate all government buildings with the national flags of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. There were orders similar to the Saudi authorities in Riyadh.
Just before midnight on Wednesday, after the meeting between Prime Minister and the Saudi heir prince was the great news.
The Prime Minister and De facto Saudi ruler signed a “historical mutual defense agreement”. The pact has the potential to remodel regional security dynamics at a time when the Middle East is experiencing deep disorders, according to experts.
According to the agreement, any aggression against Islamabad or Riad would be considered an attack against both. Both countries may have long -standing defense ties, but the last agreement goes beyond the traditional cooperation that the two states have maintained for a long time.
While Riad officials emphasized that the agreement is not an answer to any event, the moment makes it difficult to ignore the context of the growing instability throughout the region.
Defense ties between the two countries are not new. For decades, Pakistani military coaches have been parked in the kingdom, while Riad has come to the help of Islamabad during repeated financial crises. What distinguishes the last pact is its formalization of joint deterrence, a clause generally associated with military alliances.
The agreement suggests that both parties seek to raise their relationship beyond transactional arrangements in a more binding security association. The optics surrounding Shehbaz’s visit reinforced this message: his plane was escorted by Saudi aircraft, and the presence of the Army Chief, the Syed Field Marshal also Munir, stressed the participation of the military in the agreement.
For Islamabad, the agreement indicates both the opportunity and the risk, according to the observers. On the one hand, he ensures a deeper commitment to a rich ally that has served repeatedly as the economic life of Pakistan. On the other hand, the commitment to the joint defense could drag Pakistan from conflicts away from their borders, something that successive governments have tried to avoid, particularly after resisting the Saudi pressure to join the Yemen War in 2015.
However, Pakistan can also calculate that Riad’s growing defense diversification, investments in the production of indigenous weapons and the closest ties with China, could be used for their own benefit.
In addition, it is important to keep in mind that the approach between Saudi Arabia and Iran helped the cause of Pakistan. In the past, Islamabad distrusts to put an explicit side with Tehran or Riad due to broader implications. In fact, a day before the historical agreement signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Ali Larijani, a senior assistant of the Iranian supreme leader, met with the Saudi heir prince in Riyadh. It is believed that the Saudi leader took the Iranian official in confidence on the imminent agreement with Pakistan.
The authorities in Islamabad also pointed out that after the Iran-Israel War in June, there has been great good will on Pakistan in Tehran. Therefore, they were the opinion that the Pakistan-Saudi defense pact would not bother Iran.
Experts in geostrategic affairs say that Pakistan’s strategic capacity is focused on India and not for the achievement of any religious or ideological objective.
In addition, they say that neither Pakistan nor Ksa have aggressive ambitions against any country; Therefore, any confusion created in this regard is based on assumptions with malicious objectives.
The Defense Pact will also revive the old traditional ties between the two countries. In recent years, Saudi Arabia seems to have moved away from Pakistan and was approaching India. Now there will be a strategic change in favor of Pakistan, since Riad would be more receptive to Islamabad’s concerns. Therefore, it was not a surprise that India quickly reacted to the Pak-Saudi pact, insisting that it will study its implications for the region.
At a broader level, the pact highlights how the Middle East states are emphasizing their alliances in the midst of the participation of the United States in the region. With Washington more and more reluctant to act as a gulf safety guarantor, Riad seems to intend to develop alternative mechanisms to safeguard his interests.
When aligning with Pakistan in such an explicit defense framework, Saudi Arabia not only takes advantage of Islamabad’s vast labor and military experience, but also sends a signal to the allies and adversaries who are expanding their security umbrella.
While the true proof of the agreement will come only in case of a crisis, its announcement is only a reminder of how turbulent the regional environment has become.
India claims to analyze the pact
India said Thursday that he was analyzing the “implications” after Saudi and Pakistan Arabia with nuclear weapons signed a mutual defense pact on Wednesday night, significantly strengthening a security association of decades a week after Israel’s attacks on Qatar overturned the diplomatic calculation in the region.
The spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said in an X publication that India was aware of development, and that he would study his implications for the security of New Delhi and regional stability.
“We will study the implications of this development for our national security, as well as for regional and global stability. The Government remains committed to protecting the national interests of India and guaranteeing integral national security in all domains.”
The statement added that the Indian government was already aware that development, which said “formalizes a long data agreement between the two countries,” was under consideration.
The Saudi agreement arrives months after Pakistan fought a brief 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 energy.
“Our relationship with India is more robust than it has been. We will continue to grow this relationship and try to contribute to regional peace in any way we can.”
Pakistan and India fought three main wars since the two countries were carved in British colonial India in 1947.
After both acquired nuclear weapons in the late 1990s, their conflicts have been more limited in scale due to the danger that nuclear assets enter into play.
(With additional information from Reuters)
