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Pakistan-Saudi Arabia defence pact tests India’s Gulf outreach
Analysts say the deal exposes the limits of New Delhi’s ambitions in a region where Beijing is also deepening its economic and military ties
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When Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a mutual defence agreement earlier this month, it was widely interpreted as a gesture of Muslim unity in a region roiled by crisis.
But its reverberations are already being felt among policymakers in Pakistan’s perennial rival India, threatening to complicate New Delhi’s delicate diplomatic balancing act in the Gulf.
The agreement, signed in Riyadh on September 17, declares that aggression against either signatory “shall be considered aggression against both”.
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It came amid a flurry of diplomatic manoeuvring in the Gulf just days after Israel had carried out air strikes on Qatar and following a deadly India-Pakistan military exchange earlier this year.
03:44
Explosions rock Doha as Israeli air strike targets Hamas leaders in Qatar
Explosions rock Doha as Israeli air strike targets Hamas leaders in Qatar
India, which has invested years in cultivating a broad strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, responded with measured caution.
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