Navjot Singh Sidhu ready for Pakistan invite to Kartarpur

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Sunday declined Pakistan’s invitation to attend the Kartarpur corridor foundation stone-laying ceremony on the other side of the border, citing terror attacks in his state and killings of Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops.

However, senior Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu accepted Pakistan’s invitation on Sunday. The foundation stone of the corridor on the Indian side will be laid by Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Sunday declined Pakistan’s invite to attend the ground-breaking ceremony for the Kartarpur Corridor on the other side of the border, even as his cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu accepted the request with “with unalloyed joy”. 

In a letter to Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Singh said it is a historic occasion, but regretted his inability to be present, citing terror attacks in his state and killings of Indian soldiers by Pakistan troops as the reason.

“Firstly, not a day passes when Indian soldiers are not killed or wounded on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Rather than moving towards normalcy, these incidents are escalating,” he said. 

Secondly, the chief minister claimed, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intellige-nce (ISI) has started its nefarious activities in Punjab. “Since March 2017, the state has neutralised 19 ISI-armed and controlled modules, appr-ehended 81 terrorists and seized 79 weapons, numerous grenades of the HG-84 type made in Pakistan’s Ordnance factories with Austrian know how, and some IEDs,” the chief minister claimed. 

The last attack took place in Amritsar few days ago, on a peaceful religious congregation in a village. Three men were killed and 19, including women and children, were wounded, Singh said, adding that the terrorists had been caught. 

“I hope that the (Pakistan) Prime Minister will understand the circumstances... It will not be possible for me to be present in Pakistan on this historic occasion, despite the fact that paying my respects at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib has always been my cherished dream which will hopefully be fulfilled once these hostilities and killings are stopped,” he said. 

The Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located about three-four km from the border in Pakistan.   —PTI