Lt Gen (Retd) Noman Mahmood Named First Secretary General of Mecca Defence Pact

Lieutenant General (retired) Noman Mahmood has been appointed as the first Secretary-General of the Mecca Defence Pact. Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Secretary-General will lead the alliance’s General Secretariat, which is to be established in Riyadh. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed last month that the Secretary-General of the Mecca Defence Pact, signed by Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, would be from Pakistan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca Joint Defence Pact in Mecca on August 7. Against the backdrop of growing instability in the region and around the world, Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the pact based on the concept of shared responsibility and territorial ownership.

The main objective of the pact is to promote security, peace, stability and prosperity at regional and global levels and strengthen the collective defence capabilities of the three countries. One of the key provisions of the pact states that an attack on any one of the parties will be considered an attack on all of them. The pact also focuses on promoting a new culture of cooperation in the region. It allows other countries and interested parties that respect international law and share a common vision of peaceful cooperation to participate in the initiative.

The first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Istanbul marks an important step towards implementing the pact. It begins the process of turning joint defence cooperation among the three countries from a political declaration into a permanent institutional and practical framework.

Source: Jung News