Chandigarh | Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday clarified that the Congress party is not in favour of its minister Navjot Singh Sindhu hugging Pakistan’s Army Chief during the oath-taking ceremony of Cricketer turned Politician Imran Khan as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Speaking to media, Amarinder Singh said, “It was wrong for him (Navjot Singh Sidhu)to have shown the affection towards the Pakistan Army Chief, I am not in its favour of this act.” He further added that “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.”
#WATCH: Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh reacts on #NavjotSinghSidhu hugging Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony yesterday, says ‘It was wrong for him to have shown the affection towards the Pakistan Army Chief’ pic.twitter.com/WcVSYcqGlN
— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018
Criticising Sidhu for his act Amarinder Singh said, “To say that ‘I don’t know General Bajwa’…it is written on their uniform. That’s wrong for him (Sidhu) to have shown the affections he did for the Pakistan Army Chief.” Holding Bajwa responsible for the death of Indian soldiers at the LOC Amarinder Singh said, “My own regiment lost 1 Major & 2 jawans a few months ago & 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.”
However, when asked about Sidhu being sited next to the President of Pakistan’s Kashmir Masood Khan, Singh said that maybe he (Sidhu) didn’t know who he was. He further stated that the Punjab government has nothing to do with Sidhu attending the oath ceremony of Imran Khan as he went there in his personal capacity.
As far as attending the swearing-in ceremony is concerned, he went there in his personal capacity so it has nothing to do with us. About him being seated next to the PoK President, maybe he (Sidhu) didn’t know who he was: Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh on #NavjotSinghSidhu pic.twitter.com/H0vsElQNAm
— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018
Responding to the controversy of sitting next to POK President, Cricketer turned Politician Navjot Singh Sidhu said that, “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”. When asked about him hugging Pakistan Army Chief General Bajwa, Sidhu said,” If someone (Pak Army Chief General Bajwa) comes to me & 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?”
The Punjab minister was criticised by the opposition for visiting Pakistan and hugging Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa during the oath ceremony of Imran Khan. BJP leader and Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij termed Sidhu’s participation in the ceremony as an “act of disloyalty” towards India which “will not be endorsed by any patriotic citizen” of the country. While another BJP leader Shwait Malik demanded an apology from him for the “unacceptable act.”
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