As Munir’s military takes on Gulf role, Pakistan’s parliament is not involved

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud meets Pakistan’s Chief of the Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 25, 2026.

• Summary

• Pakistan agrees to rapidly deploy forces to Saudi Arabia with no involvement of parliament
• Military chief Munir commands all three services, with lifetime rank and immunity
• Government says “all necessary government procedures” followed, but gives no details
• Analysts say foreign role could further entrench army’s power at home

Eleven years after Pakistan’s parliament voted to keep the country out of a Saudi-led intervention in Yemen in 2015, Islamabad has agreed to rapidly ‌deploy more forces to Saudi Arabia without a parliamentary vote, highlighting the military’s grip on foreign policy under Field Marshal Asim Munir.

On Monday, a defence pact Pakistan signed with Saudi Arabia and Turkey in August was invoked for the first time, as the kingdom faces escalating attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.