Pakistan on Saturday backed Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria saying that the country "stands in full support and solidarity with Turkey."

In a tweet on Friday, the Pakistan government said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had made a telephone call to Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the recent developments and "like always" he has extended his support to Turkey.

Prime Minister Imran Khan made a telephone call to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the recent developments.

The Prime Minister conveyed that, like always, Pakistan stands in full support and solidarity with Turkey. pic.twitter.com/HrBjOdwsua Govt of Pakistan (@pid_gov) October 11, 2019

Imran Khan is believed to share friendly ties with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has shown solidarity with him on many occasions.

People watch as smoke billows from targets inside Syria, during bombardment by Turkish forces. (Photo: AP)

Pakistan-Turkey friendly ties

"The prime minister told him that Pakistan fully understands Turkey's concerns relating to terrorism," a statement by the Pakistani government said, adding "Pakistan is fully cognizant of the threats and challenges being faced by Turkey having lost 40,000 of its people to terrorism".

Pakistan PM Imran Khan had thanked Turkish President Erdogan for raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir on the sidelines of 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York held this month.

He had tweeted, "I thank Turkey's President Erdogan for raising the issue of Kashmir in the UN General Assembly and calling for a solution to this long-standing dispute. Referring to the siege of Kashmir, he pointed out that despite UN resolutions, 8 million people are stuck in Kashmir."

"I appreciate President Erdogan's statement that the stability and prosperity of South Asia cannot be separated from the Kashmir issue," Imran Khan said in another tweet.

I appreciate President Erdogan's statement that the stability and prosperity of South Asia cannot be separated from the Kashmir issue. Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 24, 2019

Imran Khan and leadership of the Ummah

Imran Khan's support for Turkish incursion into Syria, which will negatively impact the native Muslim Kurds comes at a time when the Pakistani PM has been repeatedly accusing India of "torturing" Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir and "violating their rights" after the Centre abrogated the state of its special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

The Kurds in Syria practice Islam and had recaptured swathes of northeastern Syria from Islamic State with the backing of the United States but are now facing invasion by Turkey into their territory now that US President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw his troops from Syria.

Relatives of 64-year-old man, who died in mortar shelling, mourns over his grave. (Photo: AP)

Thus, Imran Khan's stand on the two issues hence poses a contradiction to his posturing as a self-declared leader of the Ummah (international Muslim community).

Imran Khan has continued to position himself as a leader of the Islamic world. Pakistan had even addressed Islamophobia across the world at the UN last month.

In an attempt to fight Islamophobia, Pakistan along with Turkey and Malaysia decided to jointly launch an English language television channel which is meant to confront Islamophobia and removing "misperceptions" about Islam.

Turkey-Syria conflict

Turkey opened its offensive into Syria comes days after President Donald Trump pulled US forces out of the area saying that he wanted to stop getting involved with "endless wars." However, this made Turkey's air and ground offensive possible.

US President Donald Trump spoke on Sunday with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan and withdrew US troops who had been fighting alongside Kurdish forces. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday said that Donald Trump had authorized the drafting of "very significant" new sanctions against Turkey, which has not yet been activated. This might lead to humanitarian distress in the area.

With airstrikes and artillery, Turkey has launched an offensive aimed at crushing Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.(Photo: AP) Donald Trump's decision drew swift bipartisan criticism that he was endangering regional stability and risking the lives of Syrian Kurdish allies who brought down the Islamic State group in Syria. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were the main US ally in the fight and lost 11,000 fighters in the nearly five-year battle against IS.

Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters have made gains recently capturing several northern villages in fighting and bombardment that left dozens of people killed or wounded. The invasion also has forced nearly 100,000 people to flee their homes amid concerns that IS might take advantage of the chaos and try to rise again after its defeat in Syria earlier this year.

Syrians flee after shelling by Turkish forces in Ras al Ayn, northeast Syria. (Photo: AP)

The Kurds said that the Turkish assault could allow the jihadist group to re-emerge as some of its followers were escaping from prisons. On the flip side, Turkey has been adamant to defeat the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as an enemy for its links to insurgents in Turkey.

"Turkey is fighting with terrorist organisations that create a threat to its national security," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement in response to the sanctions threat. "No one should doubt that we will retaliate ... to any step that will be taken against this," Turkey said.