War veterans on Navjyot Singh Sidhu hugging Pakistan Army Chief: It was nonsense

Navjot Singh Sidhu talks to the media about being attacked by critics for hugging Pakistan's Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, and for sitting beside Masood Khan, president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, at the ceremony. Pic/AFP

This is one bouncer that former cricketer and Minister Navjyot Singh Sidhu, also called Sherry, cannot duck. Sidhu, the only Indian to attend Imran Khan's swearing-in ceremony as Pakistan's prime minister, is still hopping all over the crease at the fiery deliveries being hurled at him for hugging Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Major (retd) Devender Pal Singh, commonly known as D P Singh, first laughed at being asked to react to the hug that bugs. He lost his right leg in a mortar shell explosion, when India was fighting Pakistan in the 1999 Kargil war.

Focus on Kerala instead
"The action has been done, now what are we to do about this?" asked the Kargil war hero about the hug. According to Major Singh, time would be better spent, "debating and acting upon how we could contribute to the Kerala relief effort, instead of Navjyot Singh Sidhu's nonsensical action of hugging the Pakistan army chief." Major Singh did say that Sidhu's gesture was "personally painful, it was wrong and he was hugging the chief of an army who was responsible for my injury," but, "we have to be careful about getting swayed by politicians whose work it is to shout loud. Let me instead focus on the larger picture, which is helping and working for the country."

Major D P Singh at the Drass memorial for Kargil martyrs

Major said, "I feel especially pained when I see the army doing work in Kerala and I am helpless because of my injury." When told that he had already made huge sacrifices for the country, the feisty Delhi-based Major, regular at the Mumbai marathon, asked, "Does that mean I have to sit comfortably now? No! I lost my leg when I was 25. Today I am 43; I cannot sit thinking about that moment, or even basking, if I dare say, in it. I keep asking: what more can I do for my country?"

For Pune's Lt Col. (retd) Pradeep Brahmankar, head of Apex Careers, grooming youngsters for various competitive exams for a career in the army, said, "Do not see the hug in isolation. Navjyot Singh Sidhu's trip to Pakistan itself was an unpatriotic gesture." The Col, in fact, said it would not be surprising if one saw a question like: What did you think of Navjyot Singh Sidhu's gesture? Was it appropriate?' in a future exam for candidates. "The answer options would not be simply 'yes' or 'no', but have to be of some length. Such questions are to test the candidates' communication skills." For Brahmankar though, there is only one answer: "nonsensical."

Lt Col. (retd) Pradeep Brahmankar

Constituency
Mumbai's Capt. (retd) Ashok Batra asked whether Sidhu had any regard for the lives lost at the border, "not just those of the army jawans, but our civilians, too." Like the others, even Batra said Sidhu's hug was, "utter nonsense. When a soldier goes to the border he has been trained to put the safety of his country, and the integrity of his uniform first. But, when away from action, a lot of us are disgusted by the conduct of some politicians, and this is one of them." Capt. Batra added that, "A fitting riposte to Sidhu would be that people of his constituency show their anger and disgust at his action."

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