City’s son returns home covering 25,000 miles

By Hussain Kashif

LAHORE: Moin Khan, the first Pakistani motorcyclist to travel over 25,000 miles across the world with the slogan of ‘A Different Agenda’ with the aim of projecting a soft image of the country, safely reached the city on Saturday evening.

Hundreds of Lahoris warmly welcomed him at Thokar Niaz Baig and later held a special ceremony, organised by the PakWheels.com in cooperation with the Punjab Sports Board, at Expo Centre singing to commemorate the champion’s achievement.

Moin Khan entered the city with a national flag hoisted on his sports motorbike, Honda FBR 600 CC. A special squad of some of 12 professional motor bikers escorted him into the city from Thokar Niaz Baig to Expo Centre where Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif met him and declared him as “A Great Star of the Nation”.

After months of following their young hero’s odyssey across the three continents on his official website PakWheels.com, Facebook and YouTube, the crowd was delighted to finally see Moin live. After spending some time with the fans and mingling with the crowd, Moin stepped on to the stage and spoke about his journey.

The 24-year-old Moin, a dynamic Pakistani youth, was living in the US for the last six years. He graduated from San Francisco State University and worked as a part-time swimming instructor.

Moin’s journey across the three continents started six months ago on July 10. He had to face several hardships during his journey, including three serious accidents in which two of his ribs were broken. His bike too was badly damaged in the accidents, however, the people inspired by his mission backed him fully and supported him to reassemble it. The journey that started from San Francisco, took Moin to US and then on a road-trip to Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iran, finally reaching his home city, Lahore.

Talking to Daily Times, he said he started his solo journey from Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, US and reached Lahore, making countless pit stops on the way and working hard through personal dialogue and interaction to dispel the negative image of Pakistan abroad. He said he met some incredible people belonging to different nationalities, ethnicities and religious believers who showered undue kindness upon him, a total stranger to them.

Moin announced he would distribute five motorbikes free of cost to girls as he wished to establish a “Women Motorcycle Riders Group” in the city.

Moin’s family, friends and close relatives were also present on the occasion.

Addressing the gathering, Shahbaz Sharif declared Moin as a national hero and ideal for everyone who had encouraged every Pakistani to step up and help bring Pakistan to the forefront. Later, Moin left for his scheduled visit to Gujranwala.

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