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New Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan Pact Raises Stakes for India
A collective-defense pact among Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan introduces a new variable for any India-Pakistan skirmish. India's best channel to limit the clause's reach is Riyadh, the Mint editorial board said.
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Saudi Arabia and Turkey joined Pakistan in a collective-defense pact last week. The agreement states that an attack against any one of the three signatories would be considered an attack on all, a clause resembling NATO's Article 5.
For India, the immediate risk is that a cross-border skirmish with Pakistan could trigger a broader military response if the clause is invoked. New Delhi has kept its hostility with Islamabad below a nuclear threshold for decades. The tripartite treaty introduces a new variable: how an "attack" is defined and who decides, the Mint editorial board said.