PTI Songs, Music, Chants In Washington Recall 'Dharna' Days Ecstasy

WASHINGTON, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Jul, 2019 ) :The fluttering flags of Pakistan and PTI on the vehicles with banging music of the national songs and face-painted people are common scenes in Pakistan.

But such occurrence in Washington DC is a rarity.

The enthusiasm in Washington downtown gave a recall of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) sit-in (Dharna) at D-Chowk of Islamabad in 2014 as long queues of cars, buses and rallies were heading towards Capital One Arena to have a glimpse of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who arrived here Sunday on a three-day visit on the invitation of US President Donald Trump.

The Arena is famous for hosting games, concerts and other international events to the jam-packed crowds.

But this time the stadium was filled by the US-Pakistani expatriates, who were yearning to listen to, see and know the concept of Naya Pakistan and the future vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan who arrived here on his maiden visit after assuming the office.

The people from across various US states, even from other countries, travelled to Washington DC to set a record of a Pakistani Prime Minister's address to the biggest ever gathering of Pakistani expatriates.

They chanted slogans 'Long Live Imran Khan' 'Long Live Pakistan' 'Imran tere jan nisar, bay shumar bay shumar' 'kon bachaye ga Pakistan, and Imran Khan Imran Khan', and danced to the tunes of national and PTI songs in urdu and Punjabi. Most of them wore the Pakistan-themed shirts or painted with Imran Khan and PTI flag.

The caravans also included the drum beaters to further enthrall the already charged fans of Imran Khan who started to gather at the venue since morning, though it was a hot day in the city.

Social media pages were flooded with the announcements of the event, images and videos of the crowd and those travelling to attend the event. The youngsters held phones to go live on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or other social media tools.

A video showed a bus carrying mostly the women loudly singing 'Jeeway Pakistan' song while in the other a child was chanting pro-Pakistan and Imran Khan slogans. Another clip showed men and women hanging around a jeep and singing 'Tabdeeli aai re' sung by now Sindh Governor Imran Ismail.

The 20,200-seat Arena was almost filled even before the start of the event, though the management had also installed huge screens outside to facilitate the outsiders.

Senator Faisal Javed took the stage in his signature style an hour before start of the event to thrill the growing crowd with songs of Attaullah Khan, Junoon and Imran Ismail in the backdrop.

"We are so excited. Everybody is so excited. An Eid fair is going on here. Everyone is emotional too," said a lady with wetting eyes out of emotions to see a leader at whom the expatriates had pinned hopes for a brighter future of their motherland.

"It's gonna go crazy. If you go outside and look at the lines, people are standing in the sweltering heat but they just cannot beat a turn. I saw few people crying too," another lady commented as she entered the Arena.

The American Pakistanis spent their weekend around the prime minister, who had earlier given him a rousing welcome at the Dulles Airport where he arrived by the commercial Qatar Airways flight and at Pakistan embassy where he would be staying during the visit to save the public money.

A rally of over 100 cars followed the prime minister from the airport to Washington DC to express their appreciation for his commitment to Pakistan's progress.

Around one million Pakistani-Americans reside in the United States, which has also been a major source of remittances for Pakistan. During fiscal year 2019, remittances from the US stood at $ 3.13 billion indicating significant growth over $ 2.7 billion last year.