Will Bangladesh join the Mecca defense alliance?

There has been widespread speculation about Bangladesh becoming part of a mutual defense deal struck last month by Saudi Arabia , Turkey and Pakistan. But the South Asian country says it has yet to receive an invitation.

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, ​signed into force in early August, ​is intended to strengthen collective ​deterrence against any act of aggression. It stipulates that an ​armed attack against any of the three countries would be regarded ​as an attack on all.

Some analysts believe the pact has already changed the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East and South Asia.

"Although it is a collective defense understanding, from a strategic perspective it is primarily an initiative to maintain the regional balance of power and advance the respective interests of the participating states," ​Navine Murshid, a political science and sociology professor at North South University in Dhaka, told DW.

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Any move by Bangladesh to join, however, could complicate its foreign relations, particularly with neighboring India .

The two countries share a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile) land border, and have strong cultural and economic ties.

India, a fierce rival of Pakistan, sheltered many Bangladeshi refugees and provided military support to Bangladesh during its independence war against Islamabad in 1971.