Forwarded Sidhu’s permission to Chief Secretary: Punjab CM

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has forwarded Navjot Singh Sidhu’s letter, requesting permission to visit Pakistan for the Kartarpur Corridor inauguration, to the Chief Secretary for necessary action.

This was disclosed here on Saturday by an official spokesperson, who said the Chief Minister had received Sidhu’s letter this morning and immediately sent it to the state Chief Secretary.

The Chief Minister himself later told media persons in an informal chat that, along with all other MLAs, Sidhu had also been invited to join the all-party ‘jatha’ or delegation going from Punjab to Kartarpur Sahib via the corridor on November 9.

The Deputy Commissioners had contacted the MLAs in their respective districts, and the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner had been pursuing the matter with Sidhu’s office, but the latter had failed to respond, said Amarinder Singh.

The Chief Minister lamented the politicisation of the Kartarpur Corridor, in violation of the ideology of the great founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, whose 550th birth anniversary the world is celebrating this year.

India should have stood as one, especially considering the deeper agenda which seemed to be behind the Pakistan decision to open the corridor and also to set up a university in the name of the first Sikh guru, but instead the whole issue had been politicised for vested interests, he said.

The Chief Minister reiterated his stance that politics should have been put aside and the mega event should have been left to be organised by the state government, as per past practice on such occasions.

He, along with the rest of the Sikhs, was extremely happy at the thought of visiting Sri Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, which had always been part of their ‘ardas’, said the Chief Minister.

However, he made it clear that he still had his suspicions about Pakistan’s intent and believed the corridor opening to be an ISI operation, aimed at wooing the Sikh community for the Referendum 2020, being promoted under the guise of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) forum, he added.

“We have to be on our toes,” said the Chief Minister, warning India against taking Pakistan at its face value, especially in view of the heightened ISI activity being noted in Punjab in recent months.

Published on: Nov 2, 2019 at 18:39 IST

IANS