DG ISPR Says Pakistan Is Providing Whatever Support Saudi Arabia Needs, With No Ifs or Buts on the Holy Mosques

Rawalpindi: With Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia rumbling in the background, Pakistan’s military spokesman has restated his country’s position in the plainest terms yet. The DG ISPR statement, given in an interview with Independent Arabia aired on Sunday, was unambiguous: Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan is providing “whatever support is needed” to defend the kingdom, and will go on providing it, because Saudi sovereignty, territorial integrity and above all the security of the Two Holy Mosques admit no compromise.

No ifs and buts on the Haramain

There could be no “ifs and buts” on the safety of the holy sites, he said, adding that no alliance anywhere publishes the specifics or the scale of the support it extends — and Pakistan will not either. The reaction at home, he noted, runs the same way at every level, “from a young boy and girl on the streets up to our political and military leadership,” and it is one of anger. Why would anyone in his right mind attack, threaten, or even hint at threatening the holy places, he asked.

An attack on one, an answer from all three

Turning to the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, signed on August 7 by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, Chaudhry cited Article 51 of the UN Charter and insisted the alliance is purely defensive, with no offensive intent. The warning attached to it was still sharp: wage war, directly or indirectly, against any one of the three and the response will be collective — and if deterrence fails, it “has to be re-established by all means available” to the three countries. Asked whether Yemen’s recognised government had sought Pakistani military help, he said no formal request was known to him; if one came, it would be for the government in Islamabad to evaluate. Egypt and Syria have both been reported as interested in joining the pact, and he said the door stays open to any state that believes in collective deterrence, with entry decisions resting with the three members’ leadership.

The other half of the message was de-escalation

For all the firmness, much of the interview argued for cooling things down. Pakistan, he said, is talking to every party involved, Iran included, “with the singular intent of restraint and to reduce the temperatures.” Muslim countries, in his words, “need to stop attacking each other”: the conflict’s pattern of easing and flaring serves no one but those interested in chaos. The remarks follow an emergency meeting of the Makkah alliance earlier this month, where the three partners agreed to deploy forces and capabilities rapidly inside the kingdom, and a September 18 statement in which the same spokesman said Pakistan would go to “any extent” to defend Saudi Arabia.