Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has said that the recently signed Makkah Joint Defence Agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye was intended for defence and not aggression.
Speaking at a federal cabinet meeting on Monday, the prime minister stared that the agreement was signed in Makkah on August 7 by him, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The agreement seeks to strengthen collective deterrence among the three countries and provides that an attack on one signatory would be treated as an attack on all three.
PM Shehbaz said that the pact’s aim was to “promote peace, progress, and prosperity in the region”.
“Its purpose is definitely not that any aggression occurs. It is entirely for defensive purposes, for peace, tranquillity and progress in the region,” he affirmed.
“I believe this agreement is a source of strength not just among these three countries, but for the entire Muslim ummah,” he noted.
The prime minister congratulated Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir on the signing of the agreement.
He said that work on the joint defence pact had been going on for “many years and materialised this Friday”.
PM Shehbaz also recalled that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement in September 2025, while Pakistan and Türkiye had maintained defence arrangements for decades.
He added that Pakistan and its armed forces had for years been honoured to “defend the world’s holiest places” in Makkah and Madina alongside Saudi forces.
“Last year, with Allah’s grace, this arrangement was officially recognised so that a proper agreement was signed. Friday’s agreement is another extension of it, with a trilateral agreement signed,” he added.
The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement has been hailed by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as an “important strategic step”.
Kuwait, Bahrain and Somalia are among the countries that have welcomed it. Iran’s comments also took a positive tone, stressing its stance of pursuing “security mechanisms based on cooperation between regional countries”.
