'Ilhan Omar is not visiting Pakistan on US govt-sponsored travel'

WASHINGTON: US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price on Friday made it clear that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is not visiting Pakistan on a US govt-sponsored travel, ARY News reported.

Answering a question by ARY News’ Correspondent Jahanzaib Ali, the US State Department spokesperson said that Ilhan Omar is not visiting Pakistan on US Government-sponsored travel and questions regarding this visit can only be answered by her office.

The ARY News correspondent had asked Ned Price if Ilhan Omar is representing Biden administration for at a time when Imran Khan is blaming USfor his ouster from PM’s office, his close associates are terming Congresswoman’s meeting with him as United States’ effort to clear the air with the PTI chief.

It is pertinent to note here that Ilhan Omar not only met PTI chief Imran Khan but also President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, lawmakers and Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry.

She also visited the Line of Control and said she would brief the United States Congress and the Biden administration about he human rights violations being committed by the Narendra Modi government in the Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu Kashmir (IIOJK).

“I don’t believe that [Kashmir] is being talked about to the extent it needs to in Congress but also with the [US] administration,” Omar said after visiting the Line of Control

She said she was visiting the Azad Kashmir to collect the facts and the tour was benefiting her to understand the issue. She would obviously inform her party, the Congress and the Biden administration, besides raising the issue on other forums, she added.

““On the question of Kashmir, we held a hearing in the [Congressional] Foreign Affairs Committee to look at the reports of human rights violations,” Ms Omar had said.