Pakistan: Talk of a defense alliance with Muslim countries is premature

A spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that talk of Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt becoming a defence alliance was "premature".

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a formal mutual defence agreement last year, a move that strongly strengthens a decades-old security partnership amid growing tensions in the region.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's office said at the time that the agreement stipulated that any aggression against either country was considered aggression against both.