August 7, 2026, has gone down in the annals of history as a memorable, historic, eventful and productive day. It was on this day that the top leadership of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan gathered in the Saudi Kingdom. All three countries are important, active and trustworthy members of the Islamic Ummah and have deep, warm and brotherly relations with each other.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif paid yet another two-day official visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) to deepen strategic ties amid ongoing regional tensions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also reached the Saudi capital at the invitation of MBS. The three leaders held bilateral and collective deliberations in a free, frank and useful manner in Makkah, focusing mainly on prevailing regional tensions and persisting threats to regional peace and stability.

The most positive and welcome outcome of their deliberations was the signing of what has come to be known as the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement. It is a trilateral mutual defence pact which categorically states that an armed attack against any one of the three nations will be considered an attack against all of them. The agreement was a major step forward following the bilateral Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, signed in September 2025.

The core goals of the historic joint defence agreement are collective security and military cooperation. Collective security pertains to establishing a mutual defence framework whereby a strike on one country will trigger a collective response, while military cooperation consists of deepening intelligence sharing, joint military cooperation and defence-industrial collaboration.

By signing the landmark........

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