Pakistan not in support of Syrian regime change

Pakistan

Pakistan not in support of Syrian regime change

Close

Pakistan decided to support UN Security Council resolution against Syria on principles.

05 February,2012 01:23 am

Pakistan supported a Security Council resolution with regards to conflict in Syria tabled in the United Nations. The resolution could not be passed eventually when it was vetoed by China and Russia during the voting on Sunday.Senior diplomatic sources, talking to Dunya News, explained Pakistans decision to support Security Council resolution on Syria in UN. They said that Pakistan had made three specific demands during the deliberations process in the Security Council, and all of these were met.Pakistan had demanded that Syrias territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty will not be violated. Pakistan had also opposed the military intervention and regime change in Syria during parleys in the Security Council, sources informed.Pakistan also urged both parties in the conflict to bring killings to an end and respect human rights, sources revealed adding that all three Pakistani demands were accepted by the members in the lead-up to the SC resolution in UN.When asked about the decision of China and Russia to veto the resolution, diplomatic sources expressed surprise. Even China and Russia were ready to support this resolution till Thursday after consensus was achieved on the draft. However, they probably had a change in heart on Friday, they opined.Pakistan has good relations with China but has its own position on the Syrian issue, particularly when all its demands had also been met. Therefore, Pakistan went ahead with its principled position, they pointed in response to another question.Drawing attention towards the stance adopted by the Arab League on Syria, they said the entire Arab world was speaking in one voice against the Syrian situation and the Arab League had also supported the resolution. It is difficult to ignore the Arab voice for Pakistan because of the good relations with them, and also because that is consistent with Pakistani position on the issue, they asserted.Recalling that the original draft of the resolution had already been changed quite a lot during the last 3-4 days of discussions between member countries of the Security Council, they said the resolution supported by Pakistan only mentions the political process and human rights situation in Syria.Security Council resolution also makes no mention of military intervention or regime change in Syria, they said while reiterating the Pakistani position in this regard. Pakistan is monitoring the situation as it unfolds as it is very hard to ignore killings and human rights injustice, they observed.- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC