A day after Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a formal mutual defence pact on Wednesday, India said Thursday that it will “study the implications” of this development for its “national security as well as for regional and global stability”, and is committed to “protecting India’s national interests”. New Delhi also said that the Indian government was “aware” that this development had been “under consideration”.
The pact is being read as a response to Washington’s retrenchment from the region, Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital Doha and its geopolitical ramifications across the region.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed the pact Wednesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The agreement states “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both,” according to statements issued by both Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry and the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
“This agreement … aims to develop aspects of defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression,” the statement said.
The Ministry of External Affairs’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “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 formalizes 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,” he said.
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While Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have had a long security partnership, India has developed a strong and robust relationship with Saudi Arabia in the last decade or so.
New Delhi is reading this development cautiously, since it involves Saudi Arabia, one of its close strategic partners in the Gulf region, and Pakistan, with whom India recently paused hostilities after four days of military confrontation as retaliation to cross-border terrorist attack in Pahalgam.
Saudi Arabia condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack, as it had taken place while PM Narendra Modi was visiting the country at that time. Later, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir visited unannounced during Operation Sindoor, India’s military response to the Pahalgam terror attack targeting terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
