New Delhi: A defence pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey was signed in Mecca on Friday. Almost immediately, Pakistan appeared to put part of the agreement into action—though not in the way some might have expected. Instead of defence equipment, Pakistan transferred musical instruments to Mecca, and in about an hour, brought out an inane song.
This was first reported in Pakistani media by journalist Shahbaz Gill on his YouTube channel. The journalist seemed incredulous and warned his audience: “You might laugh, but this is true.”
He went on to say that one might have reasonably expected the first ‘shipment’ from Pakistan to include fighter jets, submarines, naval equipment, Air Force aircraft, Al-Khalid tanks, artillery guns, or Shaheen and Ghauri missiles. Instead, he added, Pakistan had transferred several dozen dholaks, some tablas, harmoniums, flutes, alghozas, shehnais, sarangis, rubabs, sitars, chimta, manjiras, tangporas, ektaras, nagaras, kartals, and damrus.
“And besides these, some other things whose names I don’t know were also transferred there,” he said.
There was more. Related to the agreement, Gill said, an anthem had even been composed.
Gill also claimed that the DG ISPR, the publicity wing of the Pakistani military, has its own technicians and singers whom they take along to such events, sit with them, and create songs in an instant. It was difficult to judge whether he was being sarcastic. With the Pakistani Army, it is hard to tell.
“At this point they have a song for everything,” he said.
The journalist described the production as Pakistan’s contribution to the new defence deal.
The seven-minute-long song celebrates the relationship between the three countries. “In Mecca, hearts gathered, longing and loyalty met, and the bond of friendship,” the song describes, calling the three countries brothers.
The song also incorporates all three languages associated with the partnership: Arabic, Urdu, and Turkish.
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What is the Mecca agreement?
The defence agreement is considerably more consequential.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have formally committed to treat “an armed attack against any one of the three countries as an attack against them all”.
The agreement, called the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, was signed following the Makkah Summit on Joint Defence, held at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca.
The agreement followed nearly a year of negotiations. Its signing in Mecca lent symbolic significance to a pact among three Sunni-dominated countries. Earlier reports had indicated that Egypt would also sign the agreement, but it did not eventually do so.
In a report for DropSite, however, Pakistani journalist Murtaza Hussain said the pact is “heavily hedged to the point that their practical meaning can become almost impossible to pin down”.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have signed updated and expanded versions of a defense pact for years and now have seemingly added Turkey to the same framework. We have actually obtained and reviewed one of these recent updates and the most notable aspect is that the agreement itself…
— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) August 7, 2026
According to a joint statement issued after the summit, the agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against aggression and deepen defence cooperation across all military domains among the three nations.
The joint statement said the agreement was guided by the “longstanding historical ties among the three countries, the enduring bonds of brotherhood and Islamic solidarity that unite them, and their shared strategic interests and longstanding defense cooperation”.
The agreement also provides for expanding defence cooperation in all areas between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan.
Gill used the episode to make a broader political point. He argued that Pakistan is facing increasingly serious economic and national-security concerns, while the military is devoting attention to what he regarded as frivolous musical productions.
“Do they have no shame? I understand that there is a propaganda machine, but at least have some fear of god. Have you lost it all? You are the army. Is this your job?” he asked.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)