On Thursday, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price distanced the administration of Joe Biden from Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s visit to Pakistan.
“Well, as I understand it, Representative Omar is not visiting Pakistan on US government-sponsored travel, so I’d need to refer you to her office for questions on her travel,” Price said in response to a journalist’s question about whether the visit was being pursued to “clear the air” between Washington and Imran Khan.
Congresswoman Omar is in Pakistan for a four-day visit that will end on April 24. On the first day of her visit, the US legislator met with members of Pakistan’s leadership, including PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
During his visit with the PTI chairman, Omar discussed matters of mutual interest, Islamophobia, and other issues, according to PTI leader Shireen Mazari.
Following her meeting with the PTI chairman, she met with President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shehbaz, and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar.
She had visited Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday and met with the region’s leadership.
Congresswoman Omar stated during her meeting with AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry that she had expressed her concerns about human rights violations in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and that she would raise the issue with the US Congress as well as the Biden administration.
“We are deeply concerned about India’s action on August 5, 2019,” she said.
The US legislator also went to refugee camps in AJK’s capital to assess the situation in IIOJK, as well as to the Line of Control.
The visit to AJK sparked a strong reaction in India, with New Delhi claiming that she was in the US to “practice her narrow-minded politics.”
