India flags ‘mutual interests’ to Saudi Arabia after defence pact with Pakistan

Two days after Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a sweeping defence agreement pledging to treat any “aggression against either of the two countries as an attack on both”, India on Friday underlined that it expects Riyadh to pursue its ties keeping New Delhi’s interests and sensitivities firmly in view.

“We have a wide-ranging strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, which has deepened considerably in the last few years. We expect that our strategic partnership will keep in mind mutual interests and sensitivities,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing.

India had on Thursday said it was aware of the defence pact, which formalised decades of Saudi-Pakistan security cooperation, and that its “implications for national security as well as regional and global stability would be studied”.

Asked whether India was engaging with other Gulf countries such as the UAE and Qatar amid reports they may join the Saudi-Pakistan framework, Jaiswal pointed to recent high-level contacts. “Recently, we had a teleconference between the Emir of Qatar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We also have regular consultations with the UAE. Their Minister of State for Foreign Relations was here and met our Foreign Secretary to discuss the full spectrum of relations,” he said.

The Saudi-Pakistan “Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement”, signed in Riyadh during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit, has stirred debate in the region. Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman declared on X that the two nations stood “one front against any aggressor, always and forever”.

While the pact primarily emphasises conventional defence cooperation, observers say it could recalibrate security alignments in the Gulf and South Asia. They caution that Pakistan’s nuclear posture complicates the regional calculus, even though the agreement does not explicitly cover nuclear arrangements.