Mecca Pact: Why Pakistan may have emerged weaker in the conflict with India. WION DECODES

On August 7, 2026, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in the presence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The trilateral collective-defence compact declares that an armed attack on any one of the three shall be treated as an attack on all.

The alliance is aimed at forming a group credible like NATO. But does this alliance work for Pakistan and gives it an edge over its foe India? In fact has the Mecca pact weakened Pakistan as it would have to stretch in its military commitments?

Pakistan's situation on the Indian border

According to an estimate, about 80 per cent of the country’s deployable capacity, from a standing army of 600,000, was stationed between Kargil and Kutch on the Indian front. But they had to pull out some of its troops due to the rising tensions in he Baloch, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Afghan operations. And now the Mecca pact may demand Pakistan to send forces to Yemen the south of Saudi Arabia to Somalia and perhaps farther south to Sudan later, which depletes Islamabad's strength on the Indian border, wrote Former Union Minister and Senior Indian journalist MJ Akbar in Open Magazine.

In fact Pakistan is believed to have sent 13,000 troops and 20 combat jets already for its new commitments to the Mecca Pact.

"Any upscale against the Houthis will require more troops. Each addi­tional soldier, each additional jet there means that much less on the Indian front. Pakistan has a good defence industry, and drones are arriving from Turkey. But every commander knows that the danger zone lies in the space between stretch and overstretch," said Akbar.

Weak Pakistan economy

For years Pakistan military establishment has extorted public funds by setting a narrative that India’s secret desire is to reverse Partition. However, no Indian in today's time thinks in that direction. In fact Kashmiris in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) are not happy with Pakistan as they see themselves being treated as colonised subjects.

Pakistan's economy has never been in a stable state. It has always depended on other countries for funds to run its economy.

"This August Riyadh sent another $3 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan as blood transfusion, making the total debt $8 billion in addition to $1.2 billion in deferred payment for oil supply facility. Islamabad is waiting for America to ease the pressure of $10 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The total external debt of Pakistan is nearly $140 billion, of which $70 billion is to China. Its total internal and external debt of near $300 billion adds up to nearly 70 per cent of GDP. Pakistan is saved by a Saudi drip feed," said Akbar.

Kashmir is Pakistan’s fixation but Indians know that Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so.