ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday called a new defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye a “sign of peace” for the Middle East, portraying the three-way security arrangement as part of Islamabad’s push for peaceful coexistence at a time of heightened regional tensions.
The Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 7, commits the three countries to regard an armed attack on one as an attack on all. Türkiye said this week the pact would also establish high-level political and military coordination, joint exercises and deeper defense-industry cooperation.
“This is a sign of peace for the Middle East,” Sharif said while addressing a ceremony. “This is a sign of peace for the Islamic world. And this is a sign of peace for the whole world.”
His remarks came at the nighttime inauguration of Yadgar-i-Fatah, or Monument of Victory, built to commemorate what Pakistan calls Marka-i-Haq, its brief but intense military conflict with India in May 2025, as the country prepared to mark 79 years since independence from British rule.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and the air and naval chiefs attended the ceremony, which featured a military guard of honor, a light-and-sound show and a fighter-jet fly-past.
“My dear compatriots, we do not want war, we want peace,” he continued. “But the desire for peace should not be seen as a weakness.”
Sharif said Pakistan wanted the region and the wider world to be free of conflicts and called for disputes to be resolved according to principles of justice and democracy.
The Makkah agreement was signed amid a turbulent security environment in the Middle East following months of conflict involving Iran and the United States.
The pact strengthens an earlier Saudi-Pakistan mutual defense agreement signed in September 2025 and brings Türkiye, NATO’s second-largest military, into an arrangement with nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter.
The prime minister also used the address to look beyond security, saying Pakistan needed economic progress driven by modern technology and must create opportunities for a younger generation growing up in a world increasingly shaped by information technology and artificial intelligence.
He urged Pakistanis to adapt to those changes and said the government would provide the resources needed to help the country’s youth participate in them.
The ceremony unfolded as Pakistan prepared to mark 79 years since independence from British rule. Images of Pakistan’s history and last year’s conflict with India were projected onto the newly built monument before Pakistan Air Force jets crossed the night sky releasing flares.
Soon afterward, as the date changed to Aug. 14, fireworks could be heard across Islamabad as Independence Day celebrations began.
