Chandigarh, Aug 19: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh condemned his cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu for hugging Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, saying that he "strongly disapproves" it.

Capt Amarinder, who had earlier served in the armed forces till his retirement, said Sidhu should had refrained from showing any sort of affection towards Gen Bajwa as the latter is responsible for the border turbulence which claims the lives of Indian Army jawans till date.

"Everyday our jawans are getting martyred. To hug their Chief General Bajwa...I am against this. The fact is that the man should understand that our soldiers are being killed everyday," the Punjab CM said.

"My own regiment lost one Major and two jawans a few months ago, and everyday somebody is being shot. Whether the man who pulled the trigger is to blame or the man who gives the order which is the chief, and the chief is General Bajwa," he added.

Watch video of Capt Amarinder Singh reacting to Sidhu's Pakistan visit:

Sidhu returned from Islamabad today after concluding his two-day personal visit to the neighbouring nation where he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, the cricketer-turned-politician said he should not neither be blamed for sitting next to the President of PoK, nor should be targeted for interacting with Gen Bajwa.

"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 said in a retort to critics who targeted him for being seated next to the PoK President.

On interacting with Gen Bajwa, Sindhu said he was approached by the former who pitched for establishing peace with India. "If someone (Gen Bajwa) comes to me and says that we belong to the same culture and we'll open Kartarpur border on Guru Nanak Dev's 550th Prakash Parv, what else I could do," he asked.

Notably, Sidhu is the Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the Congress government headed by Capt Amarinder in Punjab.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 19, 2018 05:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).