Reading Pakistan beyond the Mecca pact

THE Turkiye-Saudi Arabia-Pakistan Mecca Joint Defence Agreement has so far been examined largely through the ambitions of Saudi Arabia and Turkiye. Pakistan has appeared almost as a junior partner — bringing military experience, manpower and nuclear weight to an arrangement driven by the insecurities of the other two. From an Indian perspective, that may be the wrong way to read it. Pakistan has long sought greater strategic relevance in the Islamic world, drawing upon its geography, large military, nuclear capability and longstanding relationships with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye. It has also sought to mobilise the collective weight of the Islamic…