UNITED NATIONS – Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday afternoon departed forRiyadh on way back to Pakistan by a commercial flight after his specialplane had to turn back to New York with a technical fault last evening.

The prime minister, who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi and Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood, was seen off at New York’sKennedy International Airport by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UnitedNations, Maleeha Lodhi.

On Friday evening, technicians tried but could not fix the problem in thespecial plane, which was placed at his disposal by the Saudi government,after it landed back in New York.

Officials said it was then decided to return to Roosevelt Hotel where theprime minister had been staying during his 7-day visit to New York, and totake a regular Saudi Airlines flight Saturday morning for his returnjourney, as he was anxious to visit the earthquake-hit areas and visitfamilies of the victims.

During his “Mission Kashmir” visit to New York at the head of Pakistandelegation to the 74th session of U.N. General Assembly, the prime ministeraddressed the 193-member Assembly, attended special UN summit meetings, meta number of world leaders on the sidelines of the session, including USPresident Donald Trump, addressed think-tanks and interacted withinternational media.