MoS for External Affairs, MJ Akbar to visit Syria, terror fight on agenda

NEW DELHI: India is sending an emissary to Syria for the first time since the Arab Spring of 2011 with new Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar scheduled to travel to Damascus next week to meet President Bashar al-Assad to explore steps to counter growing threats from the Islamic State that has attracted some young men from India.

While India has favoured a Syrian-led solution to resolve the crisis as against foreign intervention and was one of the few countries to host the top Syrian leader, Akbar’s will be the maiden ministerial visit to Damascus in more than five as the situation in the embattled country is showing signs of improvement following military campaign against ISIS.

This will also give India an opportunity to discuss fate of 39 Indians missing in Iraq since 2014. The Modi government believes that the entire group is alive. In 2010 then President Pratibha Patil was the last Indian leader to visit Damascus.

Besides Assad, which will be the first meeting between the Syrian President and an Indian leader in several years, Akbar will also meet PM Emad Mohammad Deeb Khamis, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Walid Al-Moallem and the Syrian National Security Advisor Ali Mamlouk to discuss the West Asian situation and steps to counter ISIS.

He will also interact with the Grand Mufti of Syria Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun during this visit.

“India’s position on the Syrian crisis has been consistent,” one of the persons familiar with the developments said. “Delhi favours a Syrianled process to address the political crisis. This, in other words, would mean the process should be owned by the Syrians.”