Pakistan has completed the ratification process for the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, its Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told a news conference on Friday, Anadolu Agency reported. Saudi Arabia has also completed its ratification, Khan said.
"Matters related to the agreement, its ratification, and operationalization remain under discussion by the three parties including in the Strategic Political and Defense Committee whose recent meeting was held on 5 October," Khan said, adding that each country follows its own constitutional and legal procedures for approving and ratifying international agreements.
Source: Anadolu Agency — Pakistan announces ratification of Mecca pact signed with Türkiye, Saudi Arabia
Islamabad "remains fully committed to the letter and spirit of the agreement, which is defensive in nature, consistent with the UN Charter, and aimed at promoting regional peace, security and stability," Khan added. The pact reflects the three countries' shared commitment to strengthening collective defence and cooperation, and to developing regional solutions to regional problems, he said.
The agreement was signed in Mecca on August 7 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. Its collective-defence clause treats an armed attack against any one of the three signatories as an attack against all three.
The announcement came on the same day Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar met his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Istanbul. The two ministers reviewed bilateral relations and regional developments, particularly in the Middle East and Palestine, expressed concern over threats to regional stability, and strongly condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, reaffirming close coordination including within the framework of the Mecca Defense Alliance, Al Arabiya reported.
Source: Al Arabiya — Pakistan completes ratification of Mecca Defense Alliance agreement
Dar was in Istanbul for the sixth meeting of the Regional Four (R4) foreign ministers, alongside Fidan, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Egypt's Dr. Badr Abdelatty. The ministers expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia, reaffirmed support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and condemned the Houthi attacks targeting the kingdom, Pakistan's DNA news agency reported via the Islamabad Post.
Source: Islamabad Post / DNA — Pakistan completes ratification of Mecca Defense Alliance agreement
Türkiye's own ratification step — sending the pact to its parliament — moved earlier this week and was reported separately. Read: Türkiye moves to ratify the Mecca defence pact in parliament
Friday's announcement is about legal completion, not new deployments: Pakistan says its ratification is done and Saudi Arabia's is done, while how the pact will operate in practice is still being discussed in the three countries' joint committee. No troop movement was announced in Khan's briefing.
For Gulf readers, the pact matters because it formally ties Pakistan — the Muslim world's only nuclear-armed state — and NATO member Türkiye into Saudi Arabia's defence at a time when Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and energy sites have repeatedly closed airspace and pushed oil prices higher.