Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday said Pakistani Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid’s reported disclosure that the Kartarpur Corridor was the brainchild of their Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had exposed Islamabad’s nefarious intent behind the initiative.
Expressing concern over this admission by the Pakistani Minister, the Chief Minister said Mr. Rashid had completely bared the wicked design of Pakistan behind the corridor, which India had hoped would emerge as a bridge of peace between the countries.
The Chief Minister also took strong exception to Mr. Rashid’s remarks that “the corridor would hurt India, which would forever remember the wound inflicted on it by Gen Bajwa with the Kartarpur Corridor.” Terming it an open and blatant threat to India’s security and integrity, Capt. Amarinder warned Pakistan not to attempt to indulge in any misadventure against its neighbour.
“Don’t make the mistake of reading weakness in our gratitude for the opening of the corridor,” said the Chief Minister, asserting that India would give a befitting response to any bid by Pakistan to attack its borders or its people. Declaring that India would never let Pakistan fulfil its despicable ambitions against the former, he said any such attempt by Islamabad would be met with retaliation of the kind that they would never be able to survive.
Capt. Amarinder recalled that he had all along maintained that while he was extremely happy as a Sikh at the opening of the corridor to enable access for Indian devotees to the historic Kartarpur Gurdwara, the threat it posed to our country could not be ignored.
The Chief Minister had, in fact, been repeatedly urging caution over the matter, warning that Pakistan was trying to win the sympathies of the Sikhs by opening the corridor to further the ISI-backed Referendum 2020 agenda.
“This had been quite evident from various facts, most notably that Gen Bajwa had disclosed the Pakistani decision to build the corridor to then Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu at the time of Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony,” said the Chief Minister. “Imran had not even taken over then, yet their Army Chief had spoken about this to Sidhu. How was it possible unless Gen Bajwa was the one behind the corridor decision,” asked Capt. Amarinder, recalling that he had pointed this out long ago.
Given the revelation of the Pakistani Minister, Capt. Amarinder also urged Mr. Sidhu to be more cautious in his dealings with the Imran Khan government and not allow his personal friendship with the Pakistani Prime Minister cloud his judgment in any way, as it could be harmful to India’s interests.
Published - December 01, 2019 01:18 pm IST
