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AMN / Zakir Hossain / Dhaka/ NEW DELHI
Bangladesh will consider all aspects before deciding whether to join the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement involving Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said on Saturday (August 29), as India closely monitors Dhaka’s possible participation in the emerging defence bloc.
“India will act according to its foreign policy, and we will act according to ours. India will run as India does, and Bangladesh will run as Bangladesh does,” Asaduzzaman told journalists.
His remarks came after Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman told Parliament on Thursday that Bangladesh viewed the pact positively and would consider joining if invited by its three members.
“If they express an intention to include Bangladesh in the pact, we will certainly consider it positively,” Khalilur said. Describing an expanded pact as a “system of self-defence for the global Muslim community”, he added: “This is an internal matter of our family, the Muslim family. Therefore, there is no scope for others to be concerned about it.”
The pact, which came into force on August 7, follows a Nato-style collective defence principle under which an armed attack on one member would be considered an attack on all three.
India on Friday said it was closely watching developments. “We continue to follow all developments that have a bearing on India’s security and take all necessary steps to safeguard it,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters at the ministry’s weekly briefing in New Delhi.
Pakistan, meanwhile, has indicated that the arrangement could expand. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said the pact remained open to countries sharing its “collective obligations and common security interests”, adding that any formal request would be considered in consultation with Riyadh and Ankara.
Dhaka’s possible participation has attracted particular attention in India because it could bring the Saudi-Türkiye-Pakistan security framework closer to India’s eastern neighbourhood. Bangladesh, however, has yet to receive a formal invitation and says any decision will be based on its national interests.
At Friday’s briefing, Jaiswal was also asked about recent attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. He said dealing with law-and-order situations was the responsibility of the Bangladesh government and that it should properly fulfil that responsibility.