Pak-Saudi-Turkiye defence pact open to any other country in region, 'purely defensive': DPM Dar

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister said on Sunday that the defence pact signed between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye remained “open to any country in the region” willing to uphold its fundamental principles. He also clarified that the agreement was “purely defensive” in nature. The indication that an expansion of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, signed in the Saudi city on Friday, was possible came a day after the Turkish foreign minister said Egypt could be joining the pact. The pact aims to strengthen collective deterrence and empowers its signatory states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them. Dar further elaborated on the pact, which he…