Symbolic imageThe Saudi-Pakistani-Turkish Mecca pact may widen: Cairo is examining the legal questions of joining, The National reported Friday, as Ankara talks of deeper ties with Egypt. India is watching the bloc's growth.
India and Pakistan are neighbours that both possess nuclear weapons and measure their militaries against each other, so a capability gained on one side tends to draw a response from the other. Submarines and other strategic systems are part of that competition.
Cairo is examining the legal issues around joining the Mecca Agreement, the defence pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, The National reported on Friday. Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan said Ankara and Cairo would continue to deepen their ties, while the Iranian daily Javan called the pact a message to Washington.
Turkey's Defence Ministry set out on Thursday how the Mecca pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will work: no common enemy, and a complement to NATO rather than a rival.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he hoped more countries would join the mutual defence agreement signed last week by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which he described as a stabilising factor for the region. The same day, Iran called on six major Muslim states, Turkey among them, to take a leading role in strengthening unity in the Islamic world.
Qatar on Tuesday endorsed the collective defence agreement that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed on Friday in Mecca, calling it a positive step towards greater regional security, Daily Sabah reported. In New Delhi the pact has raised questions over whether Pakistan could use it to build wider security ties with Muslim-majority countries, according to the South China Morning Post.
Iran has welcomed the defence understanding between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, calling it a sign of a change in perception towards the United States and a move toward security arrangements from within the region. The agreement was reached last week, and the South China Morning Post writes that it adds a further variable to the nuclear triangle of China, India and Pakistan.
Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan says Egypt could join the defence pact signed on Friday by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. Islamabad calls it purely defensive.
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India carried out the first test of its home-grown Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile system. The South China Morning Post describes the test as a milestone toward reducing dependence on imported air defence, as India and Pakistan expand their arsenals.
Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday the new Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani defence pact is technically the same as NATO's Article 5, but names no common threat.
India's nuclear-armed submarine is accelerating the arms race with Pakistan, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday. The report gives no detail on what steps Islamabad has taken in response.