Pakistan, Aug. 31 -- Field Marshal Asim Munir and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar landed in Istanbul on Sunday ahead of the first meeting under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement.

While little information was made available on the composition of Pakistan's delegation, one cannot make light of the first gathering under the agreement signed on August 7, which brought Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye behind a collective-defence pledge. The first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee must now give that pledge the machinery required to carry weight in a crisis.

The Makkah joint statement says that an armed attack on any one signatory will be regarded as an attack on all three. It does not publicly spell out the response ...