Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has said that the Makkah Defence Alliance — a tripartite agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye — has no regional aspirations and it is intended for collective deterrence.
The military spokesperson made the remarks during an interview on Al Arabiya English’s programme ‘Global News Today’, during a conversation with the host, Tom Burges Watson. During the show, aired during the early hours of Wednesday, Lt Gen Chaudhry was asked about Pakistan’s commitments under the agreement.
“It formalises Pakistan’s decades-old relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the brotherly country of Turkiye in the domains of collective deterrence and defence,” he said. Watson then asked whether the pact was primarily a defensive cooperation or the beginning of a broader strategic alliance. To that, Lt Gen Chaudhry asserted that the pact was defensive, as its name implied.
“It is defensive. There’s nothing aggressive. There are no regional aspirations. It is collective deterrence,” he said, adding that the agreement was also “complementary”. Elaborating further, he said the countries part of the alliance had independent relationships with other nations, blocs and alliances.
“So this mutual defence agreement is complementary in nature. It is not competing with any other relationship of these countries,” he added. At that, Watson asked, “But does it contain any mutual defence obligation?” In his short reply to the question, Lt Gen Chaudhry remarked, “The text that has been made public by the leadership of the three countries enunciates that very clearly and it’s interpretation is quite clear.”
Asked how Pakistan would respond if one of the countries in the alliance came under attack, he said that the operationalisation of defensive commitments was never made public in any discourse. “You see, you have multiple other agreements which are defensive in nature, which are committal in nature. But no country comes out and starts sharing its operational details What you’re asking is the how part — that how we are going to defend Pakistan against any aggression.
“That is always part of the operational classification and security. What you’re asking is that how it will be done. It is for the three countries to decide, and it is for them to know and for them to actualise it,” he said.
Specifically asked whether the military spokesperson saw the alliance “complementing or competing” with Pakistan’s relationship with China, Lt Gen Chaudhry asserted that it complemented Islamabad-Beijing ties.
“We need to understand that the Pak-Saudi and the Pak-Turkiye relationship has not come out of the blue. The Chinese understand it. The world at large understands it. That’s how historic these relationships are. We have formalised that.
“Nobody has any problem with that. Everyone understands that this is defensive. Everyone understands it is for maintaining stability and peace in the region. And all the three countries that are part of it, they have a wonderful relationship with China,” he said.
During the interview, Lt Gen Chaudhry was also asked whether he saw the defence agreement becoming a part of the wider, Muslim-world security architecture.
He replied that there was nothing in the pact that stated that it was a Muslim alliance, adding that it was an alliance for regional stability.
“It is not a club that is being made for only Muslim countries,” he said, adding that decisions on its expansion were to be taken by the leadership of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.
“This agreement, this alliance can always encompass new, willing partners who also believe in regional peace, stability and security, [and] who have a shared vision of non-aggression, non-interference and collective deterrence.
“But that’s for the leadership of these three countries to decide; the how and when part,” he elaborated.
The joint defence pact was signed on Aug 7 and provides that an attack on one member state would be treated as an attack on all. Its inaugural meeting was held in Istanbul on Aug 31, where it was decided that Pakistan would initially head the alliance’s secretariat for three years.
Since its signing, there has been conversation about the possibility of its expansion, with Turkiye initially suggesting the possibility of Egypt’s inclusion. Though there has been no confirmation from Cairo.
From Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar clarified soon after the signing that the pact was defensive in nature, with the latter saying that it was also “open to any country in the region” willing to uphold its fundamental principles.
However, when Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjah Haider Khan was asked about possibility of the pact’s expansion during a weekly media briefing last week, he said an expansion was not on the cards at that point.
The three countries first needed to solidify the new organisation before considering opening it to other states with similar threat perceptions and requirements, he explained.
US-Iran mediation and Pakistan’s ‘unique position’
During the interview, Lt Gen Chaudhry was also asked about Pakistan’s efforts to mediate between the United States and Iran and whether the Makkah Defence Alliance complicated Islamabad’s position towards Tehran.
Lt Gen Chaudhry replied such was not the case, adding that the alliance was based on decades-old strategic ties.
“This alliance is a formalisation of that strategic relationship in a peculiar environment,” he said, reiterating that the pact was based on collective deterrence. The defence pact, he said, had no offensive or aggressive element and was purely defensive in nature.
Asked why Pakistan had opted to play the role of a mediator in the ongoing Middle East conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, he succinctly stated, “For regional peace.”
Lt Gen Chaudhry then added that stability stemmed from peace and Pakistan was a proponent of peace in the region. Moreover, he continued, Pakistan had a “unique position” in this case because of its policy of alignment and engagement with countries across the world.
Hence, it could play the role of an “objective arbiter of peace and an honest broker of peace”.
To a question about progress on the mediation front and towards a settlement, Lt Gen Chaudhry explained that one of the prerequisites of good mediation was remaining objective and neutral.
“So it’s not for us as a mediator to start commenting on things that are happening or that are bound to happen,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s political and military leadership had been reaching out to all the parties so that “better sense prevails and, instead of a military solution, we come to a negotiated outcome of this very complex situation”.
Watson then pointed to the possibility of the US and Iran rejecting Pakistan’s proposal and asked whether Islamabad was prepared to continue its mediation in that case.
Lt Gen Chaudhry replied, “Is there any other way of resolving this conflict other than [through] mediation? Is there any other desirable way of doing that?”
He stressed the need for a “negotiated, peaceful outcome”, adding that those who could mediate objectively and sincerely between the two sides must continue their efforts.
Asked whether Pakistan was concerned about the conflict spilling over towards its western frontiers, Lt Gen Chaudhry answered that as far as Pakistan’s borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty were concerned, “we are very confident and very self-reliant on our security”.
There were always concerns of any conflict spiralling horizontally or vertically, he said, adding that not just Pakistan, but the entire world at large was feeling the impact of the conflict.