Navjot Singh Sidhu Defends Hugging Pakistan Army Chief, Sitting Beside PoK President at Imran Khan's Swearing-in
Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today returned to India through Attari-Wagah border after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Amritsar, August 19: Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today returned to India through Attari-Wagah border after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. While talking to media, he responded to his critics who slammed him for hugging Pakistani Army Chief Javed Qamar Bajwa. Sidhu said, “If someone (Pak Army Chief General Bajwa) comes to me and says that we belong to the same culture & we'll open Kartarpur border on Guru Nanak Dev's 550th Prakash Parv, what else I could do?”
On Asking about sitting beside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s President Masood Khan during the ceremony, the Punjab cabinet minister said, “If you're invited as a guest of honour somewhere, you sit wherever you are asked to. I was sitting somewhere else, but they asked me to sit there.” Sidhu faced flak for his meeting with Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on the sidelines of Imran Khan's swearing-in ceremony.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday attacked the Punjab Minister for hugging Pakistan's Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and for sitting beside the President of PoK during the swearing-in ceremony. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters, “It is not an ordinary thing. Sidhu is not an ordinary man but a minister in the Punjab government. And every Indian has taken this issue very seriously.”
However, while talking to reporters in Islamabad Sidhu said that he would be appealing Indian the government to resume bilateral ties with Pakistan. He further added, "Gen Bajwa sahab hugged me and said, 'We want peace'. So, let's swim in a blue ocean and shun Red Ocean. This is my dream.” Sidhu was the only Indian who attended the oath-taking ceremony of Khan. The Pakistan prime minister also had invited former Indian cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar as well. However, they refused to attend the ceremony citing personal reasons.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 19, 2018 04:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).