Pakistan appoints retired general as first secretary-general of Mecca defense pact

Pakistan on Wednesday appointed retired Lt. Gen. Nauman Mahmood as the first secretary-general of the Mecca defense pact, a trilateral agreement between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, according to a statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.

Mahmood will head the alliance’s General Secretariat in Riyadh. He previously led Pakistan’s National Defence University in Islamabad from November 2021 to April 2023.

Mahmood’s military career

Mahmood was commissioned into the Pakistan Army in 1987 and retired in 2023.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in August.

What the agreement provides

The agreement is intended to promote security, peace, stability and prosperity while strengthening collective deterrence among the three countries.

Under its terms, an attack on any one of the signatory states will be considered an attack on all parties.