India, Nov. 2 -- On October 21, the defence ministers of Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, and Indonesia signed the Badr Memorandum of Understanding, a project to jointly develop defence equipment. It caps a year of several geopolitically important moments for Islamabad. Recall that in August this year, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, which treats an armed attack on one as an attack on all three, even if, so far, only on paper. And last week, the Maldivian President spent three days in Islamabad, the first visit to Pakistan by a head of State of the island-nation in 11 years. Further, Pakistan and its army chief, Asim Munir, continue to be US President Donald Trump's favourites.

It would seem, then, Pak...