The Political Chessboard of Pakistan; PM Imran Khan’s visit to the United States

Abiya Manzoor

Abiya Manzoor

Fashion and Features Editor

Prime Minister Imran khan’s visit to the United States drew enormous attention both in Pakistan and on a global scale as well. Speculation followed when the visit was officially announced, every news channel had their own two cents to give regarding the upcoming visit. The visit soon escalated into the online top trending hashtags displaying its global engagement.
He received a lot of praise for travelling commercially for this visit but what really astounded everyone was the overwhelming response he received from the Pakistanis living there.
On 21st July 2019, an estimated 30,000 people attended the Prime Minister’s address at the Capital Arena, Washington DC. People lined up in massive ques just so they could attend the address; looking at all of them chanting on the tune of Junoon’s Jazba-e-Junoon was a sight to behold!
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Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed various issues surrounding education, corruption, merit and accountability. This was received very well by his audience at the arena as well as all the Pakistanis back home who appeared to be glued to their TV screens.
As aforementioned, the address topped the twitter trends with the hashtag  #PMIKJalsaInUSA  doing the rounds worldwide.
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While the address gauged a lot of attention, the actual anticipation revolved around his meeting with President Trump. The two leaders had a face to face meeting held on 23rd July 2019 that was covered globally. In a nutshell, the two of them emphasized on improving relations between the two countries and looked forward to resolving various issues, be it the situation in Afghanistan or the US aid to Pakistan.
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What has kept the news channels abuzz since the meeting was held is the statement of President Trump on Kashmir: “If I can help, I would love to be a mediator.” This statement got everyone talking, discussing and analyzing the situation in both India and Pakistan.
Some other issues were also touched upon when Prime Minister Imran Khan was interviewed by the journalists of the host country; they included his views on the economic stability in Pakistan, political chaos and the power of the media.
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Whenever a prominent member of the government visits the United States it receives both criticism and positive feedback and this visit got its own share of both as well. However, everyone is eagerly waiting to see how the visit impacts Pakistan and its standing in the global sphere.