Makkah Pact Takes Shape, With Pakistan Leading Its Secretariat
News Desk
Islamabad: A defense agreement was signed in Makkah. Its institutional machinery began taking shape in Istanbul. And now, its next chapter is moving to Riyadh, with a retired Pakistani lieutenant general at the center of it.
Lieutenant General (retired) Nauman Mehmood has been appointed the first Secretary-General of the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. He will lead the alliance’s General Secretariat, which is being established in Riyadh.
The appointment gives Pakistan the first leadership role in the permanent structure being created under the agreement. The secretariat will initially be headed by a Pakistani Secretary-General for three years, according to the joint statement issued after the pact’s first strategic political and defense meeting in Istanbul.
But who is the man chosen to take charge of this emerging regional defense framework?
From military command to regional diplomacy
Nauman Mehmood brings decades of experience in Pakistan’s military establishment, including field command, intelligence-related responsibilities and senior institutional positions.
He commanded the Peshawar-based XI Corps from 2019 to 2021, with responsibilities that included security along Pakistan’s western frontier and the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Before that, he commanded an infantry division in North Waziristan.
His career also included senior assignments at General Headquarters.
After being promoted to lieutenant general in 2019, he was appointed Inspector General of Communications and Information Technology at GHQ. Earlier in his career, he served in the intelligence system, including as Director General (Analysis) at the Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
In November 2021, he moved from XI Corps to the National Defence University, where he became its president.
Now, after retiring from military service, he is taking on a different kind of strategic role—one that places him at the head of a newly emerging trilateral defense institution.
The agreement that began in Makkah
The story began on August 7, 2026, when Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement.
The framework provides for collective defense, including a provision under which an attack on one of the signatories is to be treated as an attack on all three.
But the signing ceremony in Makkah was only the political beginning.
The three countries then moved toward building an institutional mechanism capable of coordinating their cooperation.
That process took a significant step forward in Istanbul on August 31, when the Strategic Political and Defense Committee held its inaugural meeting.
Foreign and defense ministers, along with senior military officials from the three countries, gathered to discuss how the agreement could move from a political commitment toward a more permanent structure.
The meeting produced a key decision: a permanent secretariat would be established in Saudi Arabia.
And from its initial phase, that secretariat would be led by a Pakistani Secretary-General for three years.
Why Riyadh?
The choice of Saudi Arabia as the home of the secretariat gives the agreement a permanent institutional base.
Riyadh will now become the administrative center from which the three countries coordinate work under the framework.
The Istanbul declaration also outlined ambitions extending beyond a political commitment.
The three countries said they would work to strengthen collective deterrence and defense capabilities, while developing cooperation in defense industries, joint technology development and production. They also reaffirmed their stated commitment to regional peace, stability, de-escalation and peaceful resolution of crises.
For Pakistan, the appointment of Nauman Mehmood adds another dimension to its role.
Pakistan is not simply one of the three signatories; during the pact’s initial institutional phase, a Pakistani will be responsible for leading the secretariat that coordinates its work.
Three cities, one evolving framework
The evolution of the agreement can now be traced through three cities.
Makkah was where the defense agreement was signed.
Istanbul was where the three countries began building its institutional structure.
Riyadh is where that structure is now being established.
And at the center of this transition is Nauman Mehmood—a former corps commander, intelligence official and National Defence University president who now becomes the first Secretary-General of the new framework.
The appointment comes as the three countries seek to translate their political agreement into practical defense cooperation.
That raises the next question.
What will the Makkah pact actually become once its Riyadh secretariat is fully operational?
Will it primarily serve as a mechanism for political coordination and defense cooperation between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye?
Or will the planned cooperation in defense industries, technology, military coordination and collective deterrence gradually give it a broader institutional role?
For now, the architecture is being built.
Makkah gave the agreement its foundation.
Istanbul began giving it structure.
And Riyadh is where its first permanent institution, and its first Pakistani Secretary-General, will begin the work.
