Pakistan on Thursday said there were no discussions about a military response from Islamabad under the Mecca agreement following Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, while maintaining that it would act when the “time comes”.
“There is no such thing under discussion right now ... When time comes (we) will act under the agreement,” Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said at a weekly media briefing, Reuters reported.
Khan was responding to a question on how Islamabad planned to fulfil its obligations under the joint defence accord signed with Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Last month, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement under which an armed attack on any one of the three countries will be regarded as an attack on all of them.
The question of Pakistan's response arose after Houthis struck Saudi cities and energy infrastructure this week.
Also Read: 'No ambiguity': Pakistan warns Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia could activate joint defence pact
What Pakistan had said earlier
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: 'No ambiguity': Pakistan warns Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia could activate joint defence pact
What Pakistan had said earlier
{{/usCountry}}Pakistan's warning carries weight because of its defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said attacks spilling into Saudi Arabia could trigger a joint security arrangement involving Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad.
“An aggression on one country will be considered an aggression on all three countries,” Asif said on Pakistani TV on September 9.
“There is no ambiguity or doubt... Unprovoked aggression or spillover... into Saudi Arabia will definitely make this agreement operational.”
The comments came after the Houthis struck an airbase in Khamis Mushait and oil infrastructure in nearby cities on Tuesday, wounding 73 people, in one of the biggest attacks on Saudi Arabia since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran in February.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Wednesday that Saudi warplanes had carried out 54 airstrikes across various Yemeni provinces over the previous 12 hours, adding that they would “not go unanswered and unpunished”.
The escalating conflict has emerged as a second theatre of war threatening global energy supplies, as Iran and the United States wage their biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping in the Gulf region since their war began.
Khan also said on Thursday that there were no plans to expand the Mecca alliance, as Washington struggles to contain the regional upheaval that has also disrupted global energy supplies.
(With inputs from Reuters)