ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday clarified its new strategic security pact with Saudi Arabia is purely defensive and not aimed at any third country.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday signed a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA) in Riyadh, pledging that aggression against one country would be treated as an attack on both. The deal, sealed during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s state visit, is meant to enhance joint deterrence and deepen decades of military and security cooperation.
Sharif met Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman at Al Yamamah Palace, where the two leaders, joined by senior ministers and military officials, reviewed what Sharif’s office described as a “historic and strategic” partnership and discussed regional developments.
“The Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement formalizes decades-old and robust defense partnership between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,” foreign office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said at his weekly press briefing. “It is defensive in nature and not directed against any third country. It will contribute to regional peace, security and stability.”
Khan noted that since the 1960s, defense cooperation has been a principal pillar of the two countries’ “all-encompassing bilateral relations.”
