It is a geopolitical marriage. Every alliance, in history or in today’s world, carries its own theatre. Some are undoubtedly forged in blood, and others are a matter of necessity. The new defence pact signed on September 17 between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan belongs to the latter: necessity. Many, at the moment, are interpreting it as a geopolitical win for both countries. It is, yet, less a triumphal march than a calculated embrace—two countries embracing each other in one another’s shadow: one for security and the other for economic relief and relevance