India, Aug. 10 -- The proposed Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan has sparked a major debate across West Asia and South Asia. Presented as a NATO-style mutual-defence arrangement - where an attack on one member would be regarded as an attack on all - the pact raises questions far beyond its formal language. Is it a regional hedge against Iran? Is it an attempt to build a wider Sunni security architecture? Or, as Hindustan Times Executive Editor Shishir Gupta argues, could its most immediate strategic consequence be to strengthen Pakistan's military position against India?

In a discussion with senior anchor Aayesha Varma, Gupta described the arrangement as carrying three overlapping meanings: political...