PM Khan arrives in Pakistan after intense diplomatic engagements in US

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will continue to stand by the people of Kashmir in their freedom struggle and expose rights violations of Indian forces in the disputed Himalayan land, said Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday after reaching Islamabad from the United States.
“We will stand by Kashmiris even if the world doesn’t,” he said at the Islamabad airport where he was given a warm welcome by his cabinet members and party workers who applauded him for raising the Kashmir issue at the 74th United Nations General Assembly session in New York.
Islamabad has tried to internationalize the Kashmir dispute after India unilaterally stripped the territory of its special constitutional status through a presidential order on August 5.
The region remains disputed between the two South Asian neighbors since 1947 since both countries claim in it in full but control only parts of it. The arch-rivals have also fought two wars over the issue, but it continues to linger on.
“It’s a jihad [to stand by the people of Kashmir], and we are doing this to please Allah,” he said while addressing a charged crowd at the airport. “I want to remind you that a struggle goes through its highs and lows. There are good times and bad, but you need not to worry,” he added.
Workers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party gathered at the airport in large numbers to welcome the premier before his plane landed in the country. Banners and posters were put up at the airport and along the main thoroughfares in the city to welcome Khan home.
The party workers and leaders also chanted slogans as the prime minister made his way out of the airport to speak to them.
Discussing the enduring security lockdown in Indian-administered Kashmir, Khan said that New Delhi had put around eight million people under curfew, but “I promise you being Kashmir’s ambassador that we will expose the fascist Indian government at every international forum.”
“All Kashmiris, their women and children, are looking toward Pakistan [for help] …. and God willing, they will win, they will get their freedom,” Khan said.