Pakistan appears to have spun a geopolitical googly, signing a mutual defence agreement with Saudi Arabia. Optics apart, whether the unexpected turn in their relationship has any sting is in doubt, for a variety of reasons.

The agreement caps an already existing deep strategic defence relationship between the two countries. The pact, signed on Thursday (September 18), states that “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both. It comes in the backdrop of two key events – one, Israel’s missile strike on Doha a few days ago, and the India-Pakistan conflict in May over the Pahalgam terror attack a month earlier.

Also read: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia sign pact for joint defence against any aggression; India responds

Posturing vs practicality

The intentio

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