Kamal Ghorui
Senior officials in Pakistan on Wednesday said that Islamabad will come to the aid of Saudi Arabia even “before it is needed” amid the Middle East crisis due to the conflict between the joint forces of US-Israel and Iran.“The question is not whether Pakistan might come to Saudi Arabia’s aid. Both countries, even before the strategic mutual defence agreement, have operated on a principle of being there for the other before they need the other. So, there is no question that we might; we will. No matter what, no matter when,” Mosharraf Zaidi Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s aid told Bloomberg“The real question is what is Pakistan doing to make sure things don’t come to a point where any of its closest partners are further embroiled in a conflict that could potentially undermine stability and prosperity in the region,” he added.Asked how close Pakistan was to “providing military aid to Saudi Arabia”, Zaidi said that it would be “speculative and irresponsible” to comment on that.“There is no question of if and when. Whatever is needed from Pakistan vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia, Pakistan will be there before it is needed [and] similarly for Saudi Arabia,” he said.He said that Saudi Arabia “has already made arrangements to support Pakistan’s supply chain stability and in terms of oil, diesel and crude.”“I think both countries are tied to each other, formally and informally, and there’s no question of whether there would be any kind of if,” he said.This comes after Pakistan, which shares a border with Iran, signed a defence pact with Turkey and Saudi Arabia to form an “Islamic Nato.”As tensions continue to rise, with Iran maintaining its missile and drone attacks, questions are being raised about whether Islamabad’s response will go beyond verbal condemnation, given its 2025 Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement with Riyadh.The pact’s collective defence clause treats aggression against one as an attack on both, building on decades of military ties. However, its core provisions focus on conventional cooperation such as joint exercises, intelligence sharing and drones, without nuclear commitments.
