Now Reading: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey sign joint defence pact
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Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey sign joint defence pact
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on August 8, pledging to treat an attack on one as an attack on all three. The pact has triggered…
The Story in Brief
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on August 8, pledging to treat an attack on one as an attack on all three. The pact has triggered commentary in India, but the Hindustan Times columnist argues the strategic community focused overwhelmingly on Pakistan, largely ignoring Saudi Arabia’s internal dynamics and Turkey’s independent ambitions. The piece criticises the narrow lens of Indian analysts, who it says are trapped in an echo chamber shaped by consensus and hierarchy, with little serious study of Gulf politics despite nine million Indians living there.
The Indian Opinion
Our strategic community's instinct to filter every Gulf development through Pakistan obscures more than it reveals. The Mecca pact is as much about Saudi-Turkish rivalry, Turkey's economic needs, and Saudi hedging as it is about Islamabad. By reducing it to a Pakistan-centric narrative, we miss what drives these states and how India's nine million citizens in the Gulf experience it. The real test is whether Indian diplomacy can now engage Riyadh and Ankara on their own terms, not just as counters to Pakistan.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
