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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coastaldigest.com news network
May 4,2020

Mangaluru, May 4: No major crowds were seen in the coastal city of Mangaluru today except in front of the liquor shops after the district administration relaxed the lockdown norms for 12 hours a day (between 7am and 7pm).

There was no mad rush of vehicles either on city roads when the relaxed lockdown began. There were fewer people to buy essentials in front of grocery and vegetable shops as they had time till late evening.

There was no let down in the number of police pickets as well as curbs on vehicular movement across the city either. 

The government has allowed sale of liquor in CL2 (standalone wine shops) and CL 11 (MSIL outlets) to mop up revenues when Lockdown-3 commenced from Monday. Compared the other parts of Karnataka, the size of queues in front of liquor shops in Mangaluru were smaller. 

Like other parts of the country, the lockdown was imposed in the coastal district on March 24 to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Prior to that, a curfew was imposed in the district from March 22 midnight. The lockdown did not apply to essential services such as sale of food, groceries, milk, vegetables, fruits, and meat and fish. Gradually the district administration had to intensify the lockdown and allow those shops to remain open only between 7 a.m. and 12 noon. 

With the lockdown relaxation extending till 7 p.m., Mangaluru today witnessed people and private vehicles moving freely in the afternoon for the first time in more than a month. However, only those who had to go for work and do other essential activities were seen on roads. After 7 p.m. movements of all kinds of vehicles will be prohibited. 

The relaxation was to facilitate economic activities that had come to a standstill during the first two phases of lockdown. Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Dr P S Harsha, meanwhile, warned the people against misusing lockdown relaxation and venturing out without any genuine reason.

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News Network
July 4,2020

Maryland, Jul 4: The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide has touched 11 million, according to the latest data by the Johns Hopkins University on Saturday.
More than 523,613 people have died globally due to the infection, according to the data compiled by the university.

Though the virus is believed to have emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the United States is the worst-hit country from COVID-19, which was declared as a pandemic by the WHO on March 11.

At least 129,275 people have died in the US from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University's latest tally.
There are at least 2,786,178 cases of the disease in the country. The US has the highest number of cases in the world.

The second worst-hit country is Brazil, which has reported 1,496,858 lakh cases. The country's death toll stands at 61,884.

The countries around the world including the US, India, Denmark, and Italy have started the process of lifting the lockdown by easing restrictions despite the number of cases continues to rise.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Beijing, Jun 15: China is locking now ten more neighbourhoods in Beijing to try and contain the spread of a new coronavirus outbreak linked to a food market, authorities announced Monday.

City official Li Junjie said at a press conference that fresh cases had been found in a second wholesale market in northwestern Haidian district, and as a result, the market and nearby schools would be closed, and people living in ten communities around it placed under lockdown.

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