Snub for Imran Khan: No US welcome at airport, takes metro to Pakistan envoy’s house

Agencies
July 22, 2019

Washington/Islamabad, Jul 22: With his country in financial doldrums, Khan made it a point to travel by a commercial flight, Qatar Airways, instead of a private jet, to cut down expenses.

When his flight touched down at Dulles airport, reportedly there was no high ranking US administration official to welcome him.

Later, Khan took a metro ride to the Pakistani envoy’s house.

Social media was awash with speculation that Khan had been snubbed by the US administration, and that the Pakistani government had offered to pay $250,000 for the State Department to arrange an official welcome/protocol of the visiting Pakistani premier, but it was refused.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was at the airport to receive Khan and also accompanied him on the metro ride.

Acting Chief of Protocol, Mary-Kate Fisher, who had welcomed the Pakistan Prime Minister at the airport, accompanied him on the metro ride.

The State Department later said the Acting Chief of Protocol had received the visiting Prime Minister, “as is standard for an Official Working Visit to the White House”.

Imran Khan, who is staying at the official residence of the Pakistani Ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed Khan, is to meet US President Donald Trump on July 22.

Khan, who was lustily greeted by members of the Pakistani expatriate community, later met with the Pakistani business community.

During his three-day visit, Khan is also to meet IMF acting chief David Lipton and World Bank President David Malpass.

Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and the Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are accompanying Khan to the US.

The Pakistan Embassy in Washington has hired the services of top lobbying firm Holland & Knight to help advance the country’s interests in the US.

His visit comes as Pakistan has received a $6 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) despite concerns expressed by the US.

According to the White House, Khan’s visit will focus on strengthening cooperation between Washington and Islamabad to bring peace, stability and economic prosperity to a region that has seen far too much conflict.

Comments

Abrar Lahore
 - 
Tuesday, 23 Jul 2019

1)    he was on family trip to United States. not official trip.
2)    If there is no official work, foreign leaders have to pay money to US govt to get official welcome. Khan did not waste pakitan’s public money. He decided not to pay.

Mr Frank
 - 
Tuesday, 23 Jul 2019

Welcome or not welcome will not change anyones good work in office.Pakistan recieved 6 billion from IMF where as India is loosing IMF funding bcoz of our violent culture of mobing lyching raping killings.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

Washington, May 17: The overall number of global coronavirus cases has increased to over 4.6 million, while the death toll has surpassed 311,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Sunday morning, the total number of cases stood at 4,634,068, while the death toll increased to 311,781, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US currently accounts for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 1,467,796 and 88,754, respectively.

In terms of cases, Russia has the second highest number of infections at 272,043, followed by the UK (241,461), Brazil (233,142), Spain (230,698), Italy (224,760), France (179,630), Germany (175,752), Turkey (148,067) and Iran (118,392), the CSSE figures showed.

Meanwhile, the UK accounted for the second highest COVID-19 deaths worldwide at 34,546.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (31,763), Spain (27,563), France (27,532), and Brazil (15,662).

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News Network
February 24,2020

New Delhi, Dec 24: The Delhi Police said that a head constable was killed during clashes over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in northeast Delhi today.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shahdara, Amit Sharma was also injured during clashes, a senior official said. Sharma suffered injuries to his head and hand. He was hospitalised and is doing fine, the official added.

Tension escalated in northeast Delhi with protesters torching at least two houses and a fire tender in the Jaffrabad and Maujpur areas, where pro and anti-CAA groups clashed for the second consecutive day on Monday and hurled stones at each other.

Violence was also reported from the Chandbagh area in Jaffrabad.

Police fired tear gas shells and also resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters.

According to officials, a fire tender was damaged by the protesters after it responded to a fire call in the area.

The Delhi Metro closed entry and exit at the Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur stations as an uneasy calm prevailed in the area.

"Entry & exit of Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur are closed. Trains will not be halting at these stations," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said in a tweet.

Entry and exit were closed at the Jaffrabad metro station for over 24 hours.

Clashes broke out on Sunday evening between pro and anti-CAA groups near Jaffrabad after a large number of people protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) blocked a road, while similar sit-ins were launched in several other parts of the national capital.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged lieutenant governor of Delhi and the Union home minister to restore order.

Nobody should be allowed to orchestrate violence, he said.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal instructed the police commissioner to maintain law and order in the national capital in the wake of violence.

"Instructed @DelhiPolice and @CPDelhi to ensure that law and order is maintained in North East Delhi. The situation is being closely monitored. I urge everyone to exercise restraint for maintenance of peace and harmony," Baijal tweeted.

Delhi minister and Babarpur MLA Gopal Rai on Monday urged the people in the area to maintain peace, saying some people were purposely trying to disturb the atmosphere.

"With folded hands, I request people in Babarpur Assembly to maintain peace. Some people are purposely trying to spoil the atmosphere. I have spoken to Delhi LG and he has assured me that more policemen will be deployed to bring the situation under control," Rai said in a tweet.

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Agencies
July 8,2020

New Delhi, Jul 8: India has reported a spike of 22,752 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's coronavirus tally to 7,42,417 on Wednesday, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Out of the total cases reported, 4,56,830 patients have been cured/discharged from the disease while one patient has been migrated, the Health Ministry informed.

It added that there are 2,64,944 active cases in the country.

482 deaths reported in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19 in the country, taking India's death toll to 20,642.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state reporting 2,17,121 coronavirus cases and 9,250 fatalities.

Tamil Nadu -- the second worst-affected state from COVID-19 -- has a total of 1,18,594 cases and 1,636 deaths due to coronavirus.

While Delhi has a total of 1,02,831 COVID-19 cases including 3,165 deaths.

The Indian Council of Medical Research on Wednesday informed that a total of 1,04,73,771 samples tested for COVID-19 up to July 7. Of these, 2,62,679 samples were tested on Tuesday.

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