The Ministry of External Affairs of India (MEA) said Thursday that he was analyzing the “implications” of the recent mutual defense agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for his own national security.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a historic mutual defense agreement, under which any aggression against a State will be considered an attack against both. The ‘Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement’ was signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi heir prince Mohammad Bin Salman at the Al-Yamamah Palace in Riad on Wednesday.
A military confrontation between India and Pakistan recently occurred in May when the first, without evidence, linked Pahalgam’s attack with Islamabad, which strongly denied the accusations. On the night of May 6 to 7, New Delhi launched a series of air attacks in Pakistan, killing at least 40 civilians. Both parties exchanged missiles, which extended during the week, before a high negotiated fire in the United States would have agreed to stop hostilities.
In a statement issued on today’s development, the MEA India said: “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.”
He added that the Indian government was already aware that development, which said “formalizes a long data agreement between the two countries,” was under consideration.
Pakistan and India have 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.
According to the text of the joint declaration, issued simultaneously by Islamabad and Riad at the end of Shehbaz’s day visit, the pact “reflects the shared commitment of both nations to improve their safety and achieve security and peace in the region and the world.”
“[It] Its objective is to develop aspects of defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression, ”said the statement, without going into details.
It is important to note that the text stressed that “any aggression against any country will be considered an aggression against both.”
The moment of the agreement, immediately arriving at an Arab Summit that pointed out a change towards collective security, following the Israel attack to Qatar, suggests that it is rooted in current world affairs and reflects the defense concerns of both countries.
The agreement marks the most significant update in the defense ties of Pakistan-Saudi in decades. The cooperation between the two states dates back to 1967 and deepened after the seizure of the great mosque of 1979, when the Pakistani special forces helped the Saudi troops claim to morejid al-haham.
In 1982, the two parties institutionalized security ties through a bilateral security cooperation agreement that allowed pachystani training, advice support and deployments in the Saudi soil. Sometimes, up to 20,000 Pakistani troops were parked in the kingdom, and Saudi Arabia became a key buyer of weapons made in Pakistani.
In recent years, the association has gained urgency amid regional instability. In February, a meeting of the Joint Military Cooperation Committee in Riyadh promised to expand training and exchanges.
The new PACT formalizes the commitments that had long existed in practice, creating what some analysts saw as a joint defensive umbrella, although the finest details of the agreement were not made public.
For Pakistan, the agreement offers strategic and economic benefits. Ensures vital vital investment and financing in a moment of fiscal tension, while reinforcing the position of Islamabad as a provider of panislamic security.
For Saudi Arabia, it strengthens the defenses against the threats of Iran, the Hutis militias and regional turbulence caused by the genocidal actions of Israel in Gaza and the aggression against other neighborhood countries. The Israeli attack aimed at the Hamas delegation in Doha increased the urgency of this agreement that had been in discussion for some time.
The previous defense lineups of Pakistan, such as the agreements of the Cold War era with the United States and those under Seato and Cento, have eroded for a long time. Islamabad associations with China, Turkiye and other Gulf states remain important, but lack binding mutual defense clauses.
In this context, Wednesday’s signing represented the most consistent formal commitment of Pakistan in decades, linking its security role inextricably to the strategic architecture of the Gulf.
