{"id":2795,"date":"2026-10-16T17:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2795"},"modified":"2026-10-16T17:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:04:00","slug":"pakistan-stands-with-saudi-arabia-under-makkah-accord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2795","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan stands with Saudi Arabia under Makkah accord"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pakistan stands with Saudi Arabia under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement and remains committed to the joint defence agreement, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said on Friday, condemning Houthi attacks on the kingdom.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Foreign Office also rejected remarks by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said targeting civilians and infrastructure was unacceptable. He extended condolences to the families of those killed and said Pakistan shared their grief.<\/p>\n

Khan said Pakistan stood with Saudi Arabia in protecting its sovereignty, territorial integrity and security. He said Islamabad remained firm in its commitment under the joint defence pact. He added that the conflict between Yemen and Saudi Arabia could be resolved only through dialogue and negotiations.<\/p>\n

The Makkah pact is a trilateral arrangement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye. It follows a bilateral Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement between Islamabad and Riyadh signed last year.<\/p>\n

On September 8, the Foreign Office condemned Houthi attacks on civilian and economic targets in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, calling them a flagrant violation of the kingdom\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

On October 5, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Foreign Ministry condemned the group\u2019s continued attacks on civilians, economic infrastructure, major cities and Red Sea shipping lanes.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Oman ties<\/h3>\n

The spokesperson said Oman\u2019s foreign minister visited Pakistan this week, and the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in various sectors.<\/p>\n

The visit included the eighth session of the Pakistan-Oman Joint Ministerial Commission.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Response to India<\/h3>\n

Responding to Rajnath Singh\u2019s remarks, Khan said Pakistan rejected the statement and that India should learn from last year\u2019s events. Singh had said on Thursday that any fresh terrorist attack from across the border would draw a stronger response than before.<\/p>\n

Khan said Pakistan was fully prepared to defend its territorial sovereignty and integrity. He said any aggression would be met with full force and that Pakistan had the capability to respond decisively to any aggressor. He described the Indian minister\u2019s remarks as a reflection of a \u201chegemonic mindset\u201d and referred to the May 2025 conflict.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Illegal migration<\/h3>\n

On illegal migration to Europe, the spokesperson said Pakistan had taken significant steps that led to a 64 per cent decline.<\/p>\n

The same figure was cited on Tuesday by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, and EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner described it as commendable during talks in Islamabad.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Governor\u2019s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa<\/h3>\n

Answering a question on the imposition of governor\u2019s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the spokesperson said no country had criticised the move.<\/p>\n

He said it was the government\u2019s responsibility to take steps to maintain peace and security in the country, and that governor\u2019s rule had been imposed strictly under the Constitution.<\/p>\n

The federal government imposed an emergency and governor\u2019s rule in the province on Sunday under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution, after the president approved the federal cabinet\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government of Sohail Afridi was suspended, and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi now runs the province with an interim cabinet.<\/p>\n

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said the Centre acted over a sharp rise in terrorism and concerns about the provincial government\u2019s ability to maintain law and order.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan stands with Saudi Arabia under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement and remains committed to the joint defence agreement, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said on Friday, condemning Houthi attacks on the kingdom. The Foreign Office also rejected remarks by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Speaking at the weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said targeting civilians and infrastructure was unacceptable. He extended condolences to the families of those killed and said Pakistan shared their grief. Khan said Pakistan stood with Saudi Arabia in protecting its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}