PM Shehbaz Sharif returns home after two-week foreign tour

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned to Pakistan in the wee hours of Friday after a two-week foreign tour that included meetings with world leaders and a speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

His special aircraft landed at the Pakistan Air Force base at 3:48am after flying from London with a stopover in Turkiye.

The prime minister, accompanied by his delegation, had left Islamabad on September 17, beginning with a day-long visit to Saudi Arabia before travelling to Geneva. From there, he proceeded to London on September 18.

On September 22, Shehbaz travelled to Goose Bay, Canada, before heading to New York, where he attended a special United Nations session and met with US President Donald Trump.

He returned to Geneva on September 26, where he visited his elder brother and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who is undergoing medical treatment.

The following day, he went back to London and stayed there with most of his delegation for five days.

On Thursday evening, Shehbaz departed from Luton Airport for Pakistan, arriving in Islamabad early Friday morning.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 26, PM Shehbaz stressed that Pakistan sought peace in the region after it delivered a “bloody nose” to India in the May conflict.

“We have won the war, and now we seek to win peace in our part of the world, and this is my most sincere and serious offer before this assembly of the world nations,” the prime minister said at the August forum in New York.

"Last year, from this very podium, I had warned that Pakistan would act — and act most decisively — against any external aggression. Those words of mine proved true. I hoped they would not. But then, that is destiny," the prime minister stressed.

“The mothers of our martyrs — their courage guides our path forward, and their sacrifice shall never be in vain, God willing. And to every Pakistani, you stood as one unbreakable wall — Bunyanum Marsoos,” he added.

'Result-oriented dialogue with India'

While India remains adamant on maintaining a hard-line stance against Pakistan, the prime minister yet again sought talks with the eastern neighbour "all outstanding issues".

“Pakistan stands ready for a composite, comprehensive, and result-oriented dialogue with Indian on all outstanding issues," the prime minister said.

The premier mentioned that South Asia requires proactive rather than provocative leadership and that India’s unilateral and illegal attempt to hold the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance defies the provisions of the treaty itself as well as the norms of international law.

“Pakistan has made it abundantly clear and led there be no doubt once again in anybody's mind, as I said last year in this hall from this podium, we will definitely defend the inseparable right of our 240 million people on these waters. To us, any violation of this IWT represents an act of war.”

“Through this house, I wish to assure the Kashmiris that I stand with them, the people of Pakistan stand with them, and one day soon India’s tyranny in Kashmir will come to a grinding halt, Kashmir will gain its fundamental right to self-determination through an impartial plebiscite under the auspices of this very organisation, the UN.”