Democratic United States (US) Congresswoman Ilhan Abdullah Omar landed in Islamabad on Thursday for her first ever visit to Pakistan.
Omar met Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi. It has been reported that during the meeting with the premier, Pakistan-US bilateral relations as well as regional situations were discussed.
She also met the former PM Imran Khan and expressed her admiration on his work against Islamophobia globally.
During her four-day-tour, she will explore Lahore and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to have a greater understanding of Pakistan’s cultural, social, political, and economic potential, the PM’s Office said.
The visit has come at a time when the former PM was voted out after a series of allegations against the US.
After living in a refugee camp for four years before applying for asylum in US, Ilhan Omar became first Somali American and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018.
She became a US citizen in 2000 at the age of 17 and in 2016 won a seat in the Minnesota House. In 2019, Omar assumed the office as the Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 60B district.
Born in 1982, Omar grew up in a middle-class family. Half of Omar’s childhood saw the affects of Somalia’s civil war. When she was 8, her family fled the country and ended up living in a refugee camp in Kenya for four years. When she arrived, Omar couldn’t speak English.
She is the first hijabi woman to legislate from the House floor. Omar’s arrival in Congress resulted in the lifting of a 181-year-old ban on head coverings on the House floor.
According to several American websites, her decision to wear the hijab was influenced by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as she wanted to signify her cultural identity.
Omar has always supported Kashmiris in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
In 2019, right after the annexation of Kashmir by Indian PM Narendra Modi, in a tweet, she said, “We should be calling for an immediate restoration of communication; respect for human rights, democratic norms, and religious freedom; and de-escalation in Kashmir.” She also urged international forums to take action.
