Pakistan said on Thursday that its bilateral defence agreement with Saudi Arabia was “operational” and confirmed that some Pakistani forces had been deployed in the Kingdom, while declining to reveal details of how the arrangement could be implemented in a conflict.
The Foreign Office comments came following Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including an attempted drone strike near Makkah. Saudi authorities said air defences intercepted a drone south of the holy city on Tuesday evening before it entered restricted airspace. The Houthis have denied responsibility for that launch.
Foreign Office spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan told his weekly briefing that Pakistan had made “some deployments” in Saudi Arabia under the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA), signed bilaterally in September last year.
Pakistan also joined Saudi Arabia and Turkiye last month in signing the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, under which an attack on any one of the three countries is to be treated as an attack on all three.
“Pakistan is committed, you know, in intent and spirit to implement SMDA as well as the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement,” Khan said.
He declined, however, to discuss possible operational scenarios.
“However, when, how, where and what force will be used against what objectives, in which modes and, you know, matters, operational confidentiality requires some discreteness,” he said.
Khan stressed that the agreements were intended to contribute to regional peace and stability and described security and defence cooperation among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye as well established.
He also rejected suggestions that the trilateral agreement represented the creation of a new geopolitical alliance.
“It is neither directed against any country nor constitutes formally as a new bloc,” Khan said, describing the Makkah agreement as defensive in nature.
According to the Foreign Office, the trilateral pact builds upon longstanding military cooperation among the three countries rather than replacing existing arrangements.
“It aims to enhance… the existing defense cooperation, including training and capacity building, exchange of best practices, learning from mutual experiences in defense technologies and research as well as collectively deter any acts aimed at destabilizing the regional security,” Khan said.