Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said his Kartarpur corridor decision was not a ‘googly’ as controversially claimed by foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
In a meeting with senior journalists and television anchors, the Prime Minister said his government had failed India’s plan to spread hatred. “We have opened Kartarpur corridor to botch India’s plan. The motive behind it was never to deceive anyone. It is not a googly but a straight decision,” he said.
Mr Khan added, “We are determined to solve Kashmir issue. This issue can be resolved if both the government wishes to do it.”
Pakistan earlier blamed India of deliberate attempts to make the Kartarpur corridor controversial. Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi lashed out at his Indian counterpart Shushma Swaraj for ‘dragging his comment towards Sikh sentiments’ calling it a deliberate attempt to misrepresent and mislead.
The exchange of harsh words started after Mr Qureshi, in his address to the ceremony following the Kartarpur corridor groundbreaking, said that Mr Khan had put India in a conundrum with the move to open the Kartarpur border corridor. The Prime Minster “bowled a googly at India by opening the Kartarpur border corridor.”
The words were not taken light-heartedly in India with its minister of external affairs Shushma Swaraj snapping back in a tweet saying that India was not trapped by Pakistan’s googlies.
“Mr Foreign Minister of Pakistan — Your ‘googly’ remarks in a dramatic manner has exposed none but YOU. This shows that you have no respect for Sikh sentiments. You only play ‘googlies’,” she stated in a tweet. “Our two Sikh ministers went to Karta-rpur Sahib to offer prayers in the Holy Gurudwara,” the minister added.
