A NEW ‘RCD’ has been formed. The original RCD stood for the Regional Coopera-tion for Development, established in 1964 by Iran (during the Shah’s reign), Pakistan (under Ayub Khan) and Turkiye (by another iron-fist, Cemal Gürsel). Its benefit to Pakistan is the 813-kilometre N-25 highway that connects the southern port of Karachi with the north-western city of Chaman on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. The N-25 is known as the ‘killer highway’, for having claimed more than 4,000 lives.

The first RCD was buried by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The new RCD caps a more recent alliance — a regional cooperation for defence — signed on Aug 7 at Makkah by two earlier RCD stalwarts, Pakistan and Turkiye, with Saudi Arabia replacing Iran. A wreath of withered roses has been converted into a circlet of prickly thorns.

The text of the 2026 Makkah Agreement has not been revealed. The only explicit disclosure is that it is “intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any aggression”. It stipulates that “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all”. Like Dumas’ three musketeers, they stand ostensibly united: “All for one, and one for........

© Dawn