Pakistan names Lt Gen (retd) Nauman Mahmood first Secretary General of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement

23 September 2026

Pakistan appointed Lieutenant General (retired) Nauman Mahmood as the first Secretary General of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the appointment, which is for an initial term of three years. He will head the agreement's General Secretariat, which is being set up at Riyadh. The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, signed on 7 August, binds Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, and has since also been called the Makkah Defence Alliance. Its stated aim is collective deterrence, with an attack on one signatory treated as an attack on all. The alliance's Strategic Political and Defence Committee, at its first meeting at Istanbul, agreed to set up the General Secretariat and gave the post to Pakistan. At a later emergency meeting at Riyadh the three countries agreed to deploy forces and capabilities rapidly in Saudi Arabia. Mahmood carries the Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military).