Saudi in need, friend Pak missing in 'deed': Islamabad faces ultimate Mecca pact test

A month ago, Pakistan was celebrating. Its leaders, Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir, posed for cameras in Mecca, ink still wet on a defence pact that promised to bind the fate of Islamabad to that of Riyadh and Ankara.A month later, the pact is facing perhaps its most uncomfortable test yet.Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that it had intercepted a Houthi drone heading towards Mecca, calling the security of Islam's holiest city a 'red line'. The Houthis flatly denied targeting Mecca and, in the same round of escalation, claimed to have shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over Yemen's Marib province, a claim Riyadh has not confirmed.The message behind the pact was simple and stirring, an attack on one is an attack on all.