NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday rejected a report claiming India had approached Israel for a defence pact following the signing of a new security agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The ministry called the claim “fake news” generated using artificial intelligence.The report, published by Turkish outlet Straturka and subsequently circulated on social media, claimed that New Delhi had initiated discussions with Tel Aviv to counter the emerging Pakistan-Saudi-Turkey security arrangement. The report cited unnamed Pakistani sources.The MEA’s Fact Check unit shared a screenshot of the report on X and flagged it as fake, warning users against what it described as malicious social media posts created using AI.“We caution against such malicious posts on social media platforms which use AI to create fake content!” the ministry’s Fact Check wing said.The claim surfaced after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, which seeks to deepen military and security cooperation among the three countries. Pakistan has described the agreement as a collective-deterrence arrangement, with its foreign ministry saying an armed attack on any one of the three signatories would be treated as an attack on all three.
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The agreement has drawn attention in New Delhi, with the MEA saying India is closely monitoring developments.“We are also closely following this development, and we shall keep you updated,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at the ministry’s weekly briefing.The MEA’s clarification came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the India-Israel Special Strategic Partnership and reviewed cooperation between the two countries across several areas.The conversation focused on strengthening bilateral ties and the existing partnership between India and Israel, rather than any new defence pact linked to the Pakistan-Saudi-Turkey agreement.With inputs from ANI
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