New Delhi: In a significant development months after the India-Pakistan conflict, Pakistan, under the leadership of Shehbaz Sharif, has signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement under which any aggression against either nation would be treated as an attack on both.
The agreement was inked during a state visit by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the invitation of Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Here are all the details you need to know on what India has said on Pakistan- Saudi Arabia defence pact.
In response to the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia defence pact, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has issued a statement saying, “We have seen reports of the signing of a strategic mutual Defence pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The Government was aware that this development, which formalises a long-standing arrangement between the two countries, had been under consideration.”
“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 India’s national interests and ensuring comprehensive national security in all domains,” it added.
The Pakistan-Saudi Arabia ‘Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement’ marks the most formal expression of a decades-long security relationship that has seen Pakistan training Saudi troops and participating in joint exercises since the 1960s. A joint statement from Riyadh and Islamabad said the accord aims to “develop aspects of Defence cooperation” and “strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression.”
The Saudi-Pakistan development comes shortly after the Pahalgam attack in which 26 people were killed by heavily armed terrorists of The Resistance Front, an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
