Geneva: For the advocates of global disarmament, the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan undermines both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the humanitarian logic behind the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which categorically rejects the legitimacy of nuclear weapons under any security framework, a report has highlighted.
“On 17 September 2025, Saudi Arabia – a member of the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty – and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement. The pact commits both states to treat any attack on one as an attack on both, formalising a long-standing security partnership and signalling a shift in Gulf states’ security away from exclusive reliance on the United States,” a report in ‘International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ (ICAN) detailed.
Although the official text of the agreement has not been published, when asked whether it included the use of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, the report quoted a Saudi official as saying: “This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means.”
“For its part, Pakistan has not officially said it has extended nuclear protection to Saudi Arabia. Yet the context and subsequent comments have inevitably raised the question: Has Pakistan, for the first time, effectively extended a nuclear umbrella to a non-nuclear ally – and what precedent does that set?” the report questioned.
The report cited analysts at London-based think tank Chatham House who warned that the pact “sets a precedent for extended deterrence” by the nuclear-armed Pakistan outside the NPT, despite no direct reference to nuclear weapons.
According to Pakistani media, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said: “What we have, and the capabilities we possess, will be made available under this agreement”, a remark widely seen as referring to the country’s nuclear forces.
While he later insisted that nuclear weapons were “not on the radar”, the report said, the senior Saudi official described the deal as a comprehensive defence agreement without explicitly ruling out nuclear possibilities.
“The use of nuclear weapons would indiscriminately maim and kill people around the world, but policies about nuclear use are kept secret from citizens of nuclear-armed and nuclear-allied states, from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to Germany and the United States. This is a problem. The public deserves to have the information to scrutinise nuclear policies and discuss their implications for a humanitarian catastrophe,” said Alicia Sanders-Zakre, ICAN’s Head of Policy.
(IANS)
