Pakistan urges Türkiye, Qatar to join defense pact with Saudi Arabia

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan has called for Türkiye and Qatar to join its defense pact with Saudi Arabia, signaling a push for a four-way regional alliance amid mounting tensions in the region.

“If Qatar and Türkiye also join the existing agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, it would create significant cooperation in both the economic and defense spheres in our region and reduce external dependence,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in an interview with Pakistan-based Hum News.

“If Qatar and Türkiye join this existing agreement as well, it would be a welcome development,” he added.

The Pakistani defense minister stressed that the initiative was not directed against any particular country.

“Interdependence in the world can never be completely eliminated. Such an agreement is of great importance for maintaining peace within our region,” he said.

The development has also revived discussions over the possibility of an “Islamic NATO”-style bloc, a concept that has increasingly been raised in the context of escalating global security crises in recent years.

Last year, Pakistan signed a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement with Saudi Arabia, under which an attack on one party would be regarded as an attack on both countries. The pact was signed during Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Riyadh.

A joint statement issued afterward highlighted the nearly 80-year strategic partnership between the two countries, Islamic solidarity, and close cooperation in the defense sector.

Following the development, India said it was closely monitoring the process.

“We have seen reports regarding the strategic defense agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. We will evaluate the implications of this development for our national security as well as regional and global stability,” a Foreign Ministry statement said at that time.