Lt. Gen. Nauman Mahmood became the Mecca Defence Alliance's secretary-general.
He will serve a three-year term leading institutional operations.
The trilateral military agreement establishes a mutual defense commitment.
Retired Lt. Gen. Nauman Mahmood of Pakistan has been named the first secretary-general of the Mecca Joint Defence Alliance (MJDA), the trilateral defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Pakistan.
In a social media post, the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan announced, “The government of Pakistan is pleased to announce the appointment of Lt Gen Nauman Mahmood, Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) (retired), as the first secretary-general pursuant to the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement.”
Nauman’s term will be of three years as head of the Mecca Pact. The immediate task for him in Riyadh is to build the alliance’s institutional machinery. This will be a crucial task as the grouping is still at an early stage and must turn political intent into a working framework. It will require coordination among the participating countries. It will also require political commitments to be converted into practical security arrangements.
Who is Nauman Mahmood?
Mahmood joined the Pakistan Army in September 1987. He is a Baloch regiment officer. He earned a master’s degree in War Studies and graduated from top military academies, including the Command and Staff College in Quetta, the Command and Staff College in Egypt, and the National Defence University in Islamabad.
He spent a significant part of his career shaping future commanders at the Command and Staff College, rising through several teaching roles to eventually serve as its chief instructor.
In April 2019, he was elevated to lieutenant general and took over as inspector general of Communications and Information Technology at General Headquarters. By December that year, he was moved to Peshawar to take charge of the strategically vital XI Corps.
He commanded XI Corps from December 2019 until 23 November 2021, when Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed replaced him. Notably, his tenure as corps commander came during a tense, volatile phase along Pakistan’s western border. A
fter handing over command of XI Corps in November 2021, Lt Gen Mahmood was appointed the 35th president of the National Defence University in Islamabad, leading the premier institution until his retirement from active service in April 2023.
Relevance of the Mecca Pact
Earlier, on August 7, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement. Under this agreement, an armed attack on any one of them would be treated as an attack on all three.
The trilateral pact came after Islamabad and Riyadh signed a separate bilateral mutual defence agreement in September 2025. That earlier deal now serves as the immediate backdrop to the wider three-country arrangement.
According to the 2026 Global Firepower Index. The three members of the alliance combined have nearly 1.4 million active troops, about 3,400 military aircraft, 6,000 tanks, and more than 340 naval assets.
