Islamabad:
Pakistan finally announced a major change in its foreign policy towards Syria while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the new acting president Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Saturday.
It was the first official reaction and the recognition of change in Syria by Pakistan and came only a few days after the leader of the opposition group Ahmed Al-Sharaa became interim president of the country torn apart by the war.
“We welcome the hypothesis of Mr. Ahmed Al-Sharaa as President of the Syrian Arab Republic during the transition phase and hope that the new direction will be able to bring peace, progress and prosperity to the fraternal people of Syria”, said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on XI, formerly Twitter. Ahmed Al-Sharaa became the Syrian president on Wednesday after the Constitution of the 2012 country, the Parliament and the Army and all the other institutions were dissolved. He would continue to govern the country until the new constitution is agreed.
Many Arab countries were quick to welcome him while Amir du Qatar made a surprise visit to Damascus on Saturday, becoming the first Arab chief to go to Syria after the fall of the Assad regime in December.
It is believed that Pakistan has decided to finally abandon the old decades policy after many of its Arab friends and its Turkey, one of the main donors of the new configuration, argued Al-Sharaa.
During the Syrian civil war, Pakistan had pursued a carefully balanced policy. Although maintained the neutrality externally, a more in -depth examination of its policy indicates that Islamabad supported the Assad regime.
The long -standing links between Pakistan and Syria have deep roots. Pakistani pilots stole Syrian fighter planes during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The two countries also share a history of military exchanges, many Pakistani officers graduated from Syrian military academies and later occupying high -ranking positions in Pakistan.
The historic link explains why Pakistan has refrained from rallying to forces seeking to overthrow Assad during the uprising of the Arab Spring of 2011. The sudden collapse of the Assad regime is a shock, not only for the global community but also for Pakistan.
Previously, FO, while supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria, has not explicitly supported the opposition led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).
HTS was once known as Nusrat Front, a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda. But his chief Ahmed Al-Sharaa has moved away from Al-Qaeda in 2015 and since the fall of Syria has presented itself as moderate and aligned itself with the West.
He is now often dressed in Western outfits, often wearing a tie and a suit. In an interview with the BBC, the new Syrian chief rejected information that Syria reproduce the Taliban governance model. The acting president said that Syria and Afghanistan had no comparison. Afghanistan is a tribal society while Syria has its own culture and its own history, he added.
The Syrian chief also said that there would be no ban on the education of girls while all sects and minorities would have total freedom.
