BREAKING 🇵🇰🇸🇦🇹🇷

THE FIRST-EVER SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE “MAKKAH DEFENCE ALLIANCE”

Lt Gen Nauman Mahmood (Retd.) has been appointed the first Secretary-General under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement (MJDA).

Congratulations to entire Muslim world! pic.twitter.com/1eu2qfovXk

— Zard si Gana (@ZardSi) September 23, 2026

Leading the Alliance’s Secretariat in Riyadh

Lt Gen (retd) Nauman Mahmood will lead the General Secretariat of the alliance, which is being established in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The appointment marks a significant step in institutionalising the trilateral defence framework between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye.

The decision follows the inaugural meeting of the alliance’s Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Istanbul on August 31, where the three member states agreed that Pakistan would provide the first Secretary General for an initial three-year term.

A Seasoned Military Career

Lt Gen (retd) Nauman Mahmood brings decades of experience to the role:

• Commissioned into the Pakistan Army’s Baloch Regiment in September 1987

• Promoted to Lieutenant General in April 2019

• Commander, Peshawar Corps (XI Corps) from December 2019 to November 2021

• President, National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, from November 2021 to April 2023

• Director General, Analysis Directorate, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)

• General Officer Commanding, Infantry Division in North Waziristan

• Inspector General, Communication and Information Technology, GHQ Rawalpindi

He received professional military education from the Command and Staff College in Quetta, the Command and Staff College in Cairo, and the National Defence University in Islamabad. He is a recipient of the Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military).

A Historic Alliance

The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement was signed on August 7, 2026, in the holy city of Makkah by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Under the agreement, an armed attack against any one of the three countries is to be treated as an attack against all three. The pact is described as defensive in nature, aimed at strengthening collective deterrence and promoting regional peace and stability.

In a statement, it said intelligence agencies had reported the presence of multiple hideouts of Indian-sponsored Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna al Hindustan in Quetta district’s Shaban area “posing a threat to the local population”.

The state uses the term Fitna al Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and refers to designated Balochistan-based groups as Fitna al Hindustan to highlight India’s role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan.

“In order to safeguard the local populace and clear the area of terrorists, security forces have been conducting a clearance operation in the general area of Shaban since Sept 21. During the operation, security forces effectively engaged and cleared multiple terrorist hideouts,” it said.

“Following an intense exchange of fire, 13 Indian-sponsored terrorists have been killed so far. Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the cleared hideouts. The clearance operation will continue until the complete neutralisation of the threat in the area,” it said.

The ISPR statement went on to say that security forces also conducted “pre-emptive intelligence-based operations” in Kech and Quetta West, during separate engagements on Sept 22 and 23.

“During the operations, troops effectively engaged the terrorists and, following an intense exchange of fire, six terrorists were killed,” it said, adding that weapons and ammunition were also recovered.

It said that 39-year-old Subedar Muhammad Jamil, a resident of Taunsa Sharif, embraced martyrdom during the exchange of fire.

The statement said that the counter-terrorism campaign under the vision of ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ would continue at full pace.

“Security forces and law enforcement agencies remain committed to eliminating the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” it concluded.

Earlier in the day, Radio Pakistan had reported that security forces killed two terrorists affiliated with Fitna al Hindustan during an intelligence-based operation in the Jausak area of Turbat.

Pakistan Television had also reported that security forces continued operations against terrorists in Balochistan under Raddul Fitna-3.

In Mastung, nine terrorists were killed after they attempted to attack a checkpost, according to the state broadcaster. Heavy weapons, ammunition and three motorcycles were also recovered, it added.

“Operations will continue until the threat is eliminated,” Pakistan TV said, quoting the security forces.

Terrorists killed in gun battle with police

Meanwhile, Balochistan police killed five terrorists in a gun battle in Quetta’s Aghbarg area after terrorists attempted to attack a police station, officials said.

Officials said the terrorists targeted the Aghbarg police station, located on the outskirts of Quetta, in the early hours of Wednesday. Police personnel deployed at the station immediately returned fire.

“In a heavy exchange of fire, five terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan were killed by police,” Saddar Senior Superintendent of Police Shafqat Janjua said. He added that police had foiled the attack and seized weapons and ammunition.

According to Janjua, the attackers arrived in the area on motorcycles before targeting the police station.

Separately, the Edhi Foundation said one of its ambulances was allegedly hijacked by armed men in Balochistan on Wednesday.

In a statement, the foundation said the ambulance was returning to the Edhi Kalat Centre at around 7:15am after transporting the body of a woman from an area near Gidar, about 110 kilometres from Civil Hospital, Kalat.

The foundation said unidentified armed men assaulted the Edhi worker and took control of the ambulance.

On Tuesday, Radio Pakistan reported that six terrorists were killed and nine suspected individuals were arrested during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) by security forces in Balochistan’s Saran Tangi area.

On Monday, security forces killed four more terrorists belonging to a banned organisation in an intelligence-based operation carried out in two areas of Panjgur district.

Last week, security forces killed 11 terrorists in separate operations in Panjgur and Chagai districts.

The number of terrorist attacks in the province increased by seven per cent from 83 in July to 89 in August, according to a monthly assessment by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

The duelling speeches at the annual UN General Assembly in New York bookended the first shuttle talks between the US and Iran for months, which appeared to have yielded no concessions in the public stance of either side towards ending the Middle East war.

In his speech, Pezeshkian defended Iran’s military actions as defensive, and insisted Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons.

The president struck a defiant tone speaking at the UN for the first time since Washington and Israel launched an all-out war on his country, vowing Tehran would never “bend at the knee”.

Pezeshkian accused Washington of “terrorism” for assassinating former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war. He held up a photograph of the dead leader, before insisting Tehran had never started a war.

On Tuesday, Trump had told the UN he was weighing whether to “annihilate” Iran, but went on to hail renewed talks between Tehran and Washington’s negotiators.

Pezeshkian made no reference to the talks to resolve the stalled war in his steely speech.

“(Trump) must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee,” he said.

Pezeshkian insisted that Tehran would not allow the Strait of Hormuz, which it has been intermittently blockaded since the start of the war causing global energy prices to spike, to be used for aggression against his country.

“We cannot let some have free access and bolster their interests from the waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us,” he said.

Soaring fuel prices threaten to cost Trump’s Republicans their control of Congress in November’s midterms.

Pezeshkian’s attendance at the UN’s signature diplomatic event, in the heart of Manhattan, had been in doubt as it was unclear if the United States would issue a visa.

Ultimately Washington granted the permit, but denied visas to several members of Pezeshkian’s entourage.

Indirect contact

The annual UN gathering in New York provided the occasion on Tuesday for Iranian and US officials to hold their first known indirect talks since a ceasefire collapsed in July, with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicating through mediators on the sidelines.

“Steve and Jared had a very productive meeting today with mediators of Iran,” Trump said on Tuesday after his own speech.

“I think there’s a lot of momentum for them to make a deal. It’s what we’re hearing from everybody.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said Tehran had engaged with Washington through a Qatari mediator and conveyed conditions, including an end to the war on all fronts and a halt to US “acts of aggression”.

Some Iranian state media initially reported that Araghchi and Witkoff had met, but Iranian officials clarified to Reuters that it was not face-to-face.

The diplomatic contact in New York caused a backlash in Iranian media associated with hardliners.

An opinion piece run by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, associated with the Revolutionary Guards, said Araghchi was wrong to have contacts with Witkoff and Kushner, “a major gift to Trump”, as Iran had already conveyed its terms.

Iranian sources told Reuters the delegation had been ordered not to meet the Americans face-to-face by the Supreme National Security Council, a body that includes figures selected by Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader.