ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has landed in the federal capital Islamabad after concluding his successful visit to the United States where he delivered a historical speech in the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 27.
Upon his arrival at the Islamabad airport, PM Imran Khan received warm welcome from federal ministers, cabinet members, other legislators, central leaders of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and a large number of PTI activists crowded to meet him.
Special arrangements were made prior to the arrival of the premier at Islamabad airport as his special flight was scheduled to land at 4:30 pm.
A large number of activists arrived at the Islamabad International Airport in shape of rallies from Lahore, Faisalabad and Peshawar.
Federal Minister Murad Saeed, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Shah Farman and central leaders of the ruling party are present on the occasion.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan along with his delegation departed for Riyadh by a commercial flight back to Pakistan.
The prime minister, who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood, was seen off at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi.
The prime minister’s plane earlier landed in Jeddah, where he stayed for three hours, before departing for Islamabad.
On Friday evening, the plane carrying PM Khan with his entourage back to home after his historic address to the United Nations General Assembly had routed back to New York due to a technical fault.
The premier, while addressing the huge crowd outside the Islamabad airport upon his arrival from the United States, once again vowed to expose the fascist government of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over continuing atrocities against Kashmiris in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Khan reiterated his stance that Pakistan will stand besides Kashmiris regardless of the
world is supporting them or not.
“More than 8 million people are sieged into their houses by the Indian troops in the occupied valley. We are supporting Kashmiris just to please Allah Almighty.”
“You don’t have to be disappointed as the people of Kashmir are looking towards you. You don’t have to be worried about the tough time as the struggle is the name of ups and downs. We have to just keep trying again and again, while the victory is in hand of Allah Almighty.”
The premier vowed to expose the Modi-led government over spreading hate against Muslims. Besides, PM Khan announced to continue to provide diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri people.
PM Khan thanked nationals for supporting him in highlighting the Kashmir cause and other issues in the UNGA session held in New York. He also thanked the First Lady Bushra Bibi for praying for his success at the crucial visit to the United States (US).
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi among the Pakistani delegation including Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Special Assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari and other senior officials also accompanied the PM.
PTI supporters carried flags, banners and posters lauding PM Imran’s performance on what was dubbed his ‘Mission Kashmir’, and the capital’s streets were also lined with similar decorations.
Earlier, Prime Minister remarked in his article published in US-based daily Metro New York resolved that the Pakistani nation would not sit back until Kashmiris are given their
right of self-determination, whatever be the cost.
“It’s time for the world to decide how long political and economic expediencies would continue to overshadow human values and morals. One can’t hunt with the hound and run with the hare. However, the Pakistani nation will not sit back until Kashmiris are given their right of self-determination, whatever be the cost.”
He said through this write-up, he aimed at shaking the world conscience to the plight of 8 million people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He once again reiterated Pakistan’s desire for peace, nonetheless, peace with honour. Pakistan wishes to resolve this decades-long dispute which has assumed the ugliness of human tragedy, he added.
He said Post-Pulwama face-off bore testimony to the perils of hostilities in nuclearized South Asia. The specter of war was narrowly averted only after Pakistan released a captured Indian pilot for the greater cause of peace.
Post-Aug. 5 Indian government’s illegal strike through so-called constitutional cover against Kashmiris has led to unprecedented worldwide protests. Pakistan has been engaged with all conscious members of the world community to play their role in addressing this gross injustice.
The world at large continues to despise Indian action across the globe while communities with cognizant conscience are expressing their detest against Indian excesses. After the egregious Indian actions of Aug. 5, 2019, and the imposition of a curfew, preceded by additional troops’ deployment in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, international media, human rights organizations, and many world leaders have expressed concern over the plight of the 8 million caged people of Kashmir and ensuing tensions between India and Pakistan. However, few chose to continue their penchant for business and trade considerations over universal human empathy against human rights violations.
This is a repeat of the same policy of appeasement that led to World War II. The question looms large: Is the world ready for a similar catastrophe? Ironically, this time under nuclear overhang. The prime minister said the world leaders, especially President Donald Trump, are cognizant of the centrality of the Kashmir issue to the peace of South Asia. His recent offer of mediation, not only during my meeting with him, but also at a couple of subsequent occasions, displays his astute understanding that the Kashmir dispute can spiral tensions between India and Pakistan to unimaginable consequences, which may transcend the regional frontiers.
He told the world that Kashmir was not a mere territorial dispute, but a tale of an unfulfilled promise of the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir, espoused in UNSC resolutions, concurred by founding father of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru.
Over the last seven decades, he said defiant Kashmiris have not acquiesced to Indian occupation, despite paying the heaviest cost in terms of human lives, honour, dignity and of late (since first Modi regime) the pellet guns.
“Kashmiris will not budge to the recent Indian government annexation attempt, nor would the people and state of Pakistan leave them in these testing times,” he resolved. He said India had been exploiting global concerns over terrorism to malign Pakistan by tainting the just freedom struggle of Kashmiris as Pakistan sponsored terrorism. The Pulwama incident was a reaction by local Kashmiri to Indian repression and illegal occupation.
However, Modi’s government used it as an opportunity to score political brownie points in the face of the May 2019 Indian elections. Had Pakistan not displayed political maturity and earnest desire for peace, the region could have plunged into a war with horrible consequences, he remarked.
I must warn the world that India would once again attempt to vitiate regional peace in frustration to the backlash it is likely to face, as and when the curfew restrictions are relaxed. Kashmiris’ reaction to the draconian clampdown, entering into its 50th day, may be projected as acts of terrorism, and blames hurled on Pakistan.
Post-Pulwama duel had raised the threat of missile strikes on major Pakistani cities. On Feb. 27, 2019, Pakistan comprehensively displayed not only the will and resolve but also the capability to respond to any kind of Indian aggression. Make no mistake that our rejoinder to any future hostilities by India will be no different.
India has been veiling the Kashmir dispute under bilateralism, while concurrently denying any bilateral engagement. India’s obstinate response to our peace offers has brought us to the stage, wherein we do not seek to negotiate until the recent unilateral annexation attempt by the Indian government is reversed, curfew lifted and Kashmiri stakeholders are made part of the negotiations. If bilateralism has been perpetually a failure in resolving this long-standing dispute, then what else will rescue the South Asian region from the shadows of war, but the intervention of the world powers, the U.N. and other global conduits?
He viewed that the international community spearheaded by the U.N. has been playing a constructive role in dispute resolution and helping the beleaguered nations including Bosnia, East Timor and South Sudan.
“People of Kashmir are also looking up to international support for their just cause. Let the distractors of the United Nations be shamed, who blame the United Nations of being selective in its approach,” he said. The question arises: For how long can the world allow such recurring threats to regional and global peace? How long will the Kashmir dispute simmer as the nuclear flash point between India and Pakistan? What is the likely cost of this apathy and complacency, for not only two countries, the people of Kashmir, but for the world at large? NNI