{"id":10309,"date":"2026-08-11T10:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/10309\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T10:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T10:53:14","slug":"islamic-nato-why-pakistans-new-defence-pact-has-india-on-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/10309\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Islamic Nato\u2019? Why Pakistan\u2019s new defence pact has India on edge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/politics\/article\/3363383\/how-saudi-arabia-turkey-pakistan-defence-pact-acts-insurance-over-us-disengagement?module=further_reading_RM&amp;pgtype=article?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">defence pact<\/a> between <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/pakistan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pakistan<\/a>, Saudi Arabia and Turkey has raised questions in New Delhi over whether Islamabad could use the agreement to build wider security ties with Muslim-majority countries in <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/india?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">India<\/a>\u2019s neighbourhood, analysts have said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed on Friday, states that an armed attack on any one of the three countries would be treated as an attack on all of them.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The tripartite agreement followed a bilateral one between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed last September.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Pakistan\u2019s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Saturday described the pact as a possible model for a wider military alliance among Islamic countries, comparing such a grouping to Nato.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While Islamic nations are still more likely to prioritise national interests over religious solidarity, analysts say Delhi will need to be cautious because Pakistan has framed the pact as a potential platform for broader cooperation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pakistan Air Force JF-17 fighter jets perform at a rehearsal in Islamabad in March 2024. Bangladesh has been in talks to buy these jets as part of its military modernisation plans. Photo: AFP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cedbf7fe-e26e-43a0-bf74-ccee5cb51159_c2367b08.jpg\" title=\"Pakistan Air Force JF-17 fighter jets perform at a rehearsal in Islamabad in March 2024. Bangladesh has been in talks to buy these jets as part of its military modernisation plans. Photo: AFP\"\/>Pakistan Air Force JF-17 fighter jets perform at a rehearsal in Islamabad in March 2024. Bangladesh has been in talks to buy these jets as part of its military modernisation plans. Photo: AFP<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The development comes as Bangladesh explores buying JF-17 Thunder fighter jets \u2013 co-developed by China and Pakistan \u2013 from Islamabad as part of Dhaka\u2019s military modernisation plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new defence pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey has raised questions in New Delhi over whether&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5930,5928,191,5934,5931,611,5932,5929,5935,5634,158,5933,1613,3431,466],"class_list":["post-10309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bangladesh","tag-bay-of-bengal","tag-china","tag-delhi","tag-dhaka","tag-india","tag-indian-ocean","tag-international-monetary-fund","tag-maldives","tag-mecca-joint-defence-agreement","tag-middle-east","tag-new-delhi","tag-pakistan","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}