Islamabad, Oct 2 (PTI) A high-level committee of the trilateral Makkah defence alliance, comprising Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, will meet next week in Riyadh to discuss the attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on the Gulf Kingdom, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference here, Dar said the foreign ministers of the three countries of the Makkah defence pact, which was signed in August, met on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month to discuss the regional security situation.
“We made a plan because all three of us were present (in New York),” Dar said, referring to himself, Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan.
He said that the alliance’s Strategic Political Defence Committee (SPDC) would meet in Riyadh next week to focus on Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
“Very soon, a meeting of the whole SPDC … has been agreed to in principle, to take place in Riyadh,” the deputy premier said.
Responding to a query, he said that the meeting would be held “next week”.
He said that it would be an emergency meeting, as the committee would meet again as planned at “the end of October or beginning of November”.
After the foreign minister met in New York, a special meeting took place of the three army chiefs in Riyadh on September 25, Dar said.
The SPDC is a key organ of the Makkah pact and comprises the foreign ministers, defence ministers and chiefs of army staff of the three members.
Dar also condemned Thursday’s airstrike on a power plant in Medina, which was blamed on Houthis.
He also shared that he had spoken to Iran in detail regarding the Houthi attacks, reminding them that Pakistan had its trilateral agreement to honour. He said that Iran denied association “both with the Houthis and with the Iraqi militia”.
Dar further said that Iran suggested that the Houthis be “engaged politically”, rather than using “kinetic action”.
Responding to a query about expansion in the Makkah pact, he said that at least six countries were eager to join. He, however, did not share the names of the countries.
He also said that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would visit Pakistan soon, likely before the end of his tenure. PTI SH ZH
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