Pakistan, Aug. 31 -- Top officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye will gather in Istanbul on Monday for a first committee meeting under the joint defence accord that they signed this month, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.

The three US allies signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on August 7.

It is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all, similar to Nato's Article 5 collective defence clause.

Foreign and defence ministers, as well as the chiefs of ...