Retired Pakistani General Named First Secretary-General of Mecca Defense Alliance
- 03:07:42 am, Thursday, 24 September 2026
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Retired Pakistani Lieutenant General Noman Mahmood has been appointed as the first Secretary-General of the trilateral “Mecca Joint Defense Pact” involving Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan.
According to Anadolu Agency, the appointment was formally announced on Wednesday, September 23. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Mahmood will head the alliance’s General Secretariat, which is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mahmood joined the Pakistan Army in 1987 and retired in 2023. He previously served as the president of Pakistan’s National Defence University from November 2021 to April 2023.
The Mecca Joint Defense Pact was signed jointly by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The alliance brings together Saudi Arabia, a leading economy in the Middle East; Türkiye, a NATO member with significant military capabilities; and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state.
The pact is aimed at expanding the longstanding strategic defense relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan through Türkiye’s inclusion. It has become known as the “Mecca Alliance” because the agreement was signed in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.
The agreement has been described as resembling NATO’s Article 5 principle. Under the pact, an armed attack against any one of the three signatories is to be treated as an attack against all three countries.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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