Matter of concern: Ex Indian envoys on Saudi Arabia-Pak pact

The signing of a strategic mutual defence agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is "not a positive development" from India's point of view and New Delhi will have to manage its relationship with Riyadh "carefully and deftly", two former Indian ambassadors said on Friday.

However, the veteran diplomats assessed that notwithstanding this development, India-Saudi Arabia "will remain strong".

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the agreement, which declares that any attack on either country will be considered "an aggression against both".

The agreement was signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday during the Pakistani leader's day-long visit to the Gulf Kingdom. The deal came days after an Israeli attack on the Hamas leadership in Qatar, a key US ally in the Gulf region.

Ashok Kantha, India's former envoy to China said, "I don't have details about the agreement, but obviously it's not a good development from our point of view".

He said it not a kind of positive signal coming from Saudi Arabia, and it's "not a positive development".

Asked if it will affect India-Saudi Arabia ties, Kantha, said he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"Our ties (with Saudi Arabia) are very important, multi-faceted, they are based on several pillars," he added.

It has been a fairly robust, multi-faceted strategic engagement with Saudi Arabia, and "I believe that will continue", the former envoy said, adding, "our relationship with Saudi Arabia, I believe, will remain strong".

The development seems a "bit of a jarring, discordant note" in a relationship which was developing in a "very positive and constructive manner," he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement issued on Thursday said it has seen reports of the signing of the strategic mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and New Delhi will study the implications of this development for India's national security as well as for regional and global stability.

Other diplomats said looking at engagements, India has pursued with Saudi Arabia, and the statement issued on the development by the MEA a day ago, it seems, the development "didn't come as a surprise to us".

Veteran diplomat Venu Rajamony said this development is "certainly a matter of concern", pointing to the agreement which declares that any attack on either country will be considered "an aggression against both".

The immediate context of that might have been Israel's attack on Qatar. But, clearly Pakistan is "aligning itself more and more with Islamic countries and the Gulf Arab countries, than the Arab countries in general", in the context of the development in West Asia, he said.

"It can certainly have implications for India also," the former envoy said.

Rajamony served as India's ambassador to the Netherlands from 2017 to 2020.

He conjectured that in the Saudi mind, this pact "may not be targeted at India".

Asked, will this development impinge on India's ties with Saudi Arabia, Rajamony said, "Certainly, too early to say, Saudi Arabia being an extremely important partner for us." "So, India will have to manage the relationship carefully and deftly," he added.

Spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, on Thursday had issued his response in a statement to media queries related to the reported development.

"The government was aware that this development, which formalises a long-standing arrangement between the two countries, had been under consideration," he said.

Referring to the MEA statement of Thursday, Rajamony said, whichever way one interprets the development, "it only looks like something negative for India".

"It's not a good sign," the envoy added.

What is clear is that Saudi Arabia is "not in any way abandoning Pakistan, they are coming closer to Pakistan even in security terms," he said.