ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and retired diplomat T.S. Tirumurti has said that the joint Makkah defence agreement between Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia is not good news for India.
In a post on X, Tirumurti said, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan stand to benefit strategically from the regional shifts triggered by the Iran war.
He recalled an article he wrote for The Hindu on March 10, shortly after the Iran war began, in which he argued that Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan would benefit from the conflict by filling the emerging regional space.
“I had written that Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will benefit. Their ambitions and stock will rise to fill the regional space. This is not good news for India. Now this is coming true,” Tirumurti wrote.
.@sidhant Soon after the Iran war started end February, I had written the following in @the_hindu of 10 March: Türkiye, Saudi Arabia & Pakistan will benefit. Their ambitions and stock will rise to fill the regional space. This is not good news for India
Now this is coming true. https://t.co/kMGeXm8cdZ
— Amb T S Tirumurti (@ambtstirumurti) August 7, 2026
Earlier today, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye signed the “Makkah Joint Defence Agreement” that empowers member states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them.
The defence pact was signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and PM Mohammad bin Salman, and Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the “Makkah Al-Mukarramah Summit for Joint Defence” held at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah.
The statement, issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Office after the summit, said the pact reflected the “shared commitment to further strengthening their collective security and to promoting peace, security, and stability in the region and beyond, in pursuit of a secure and prosperous future.”
