Navjot Singh Sidhu defends hugging Pakistan's army chief

Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu talks to the media after crossing the India-Pakistan border in Wagah. Pic/AFP

Facing flak for hugging Pakistan's Army chief at the swearing-in of Imran Khan as the neighbouring country's prime minister, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu defended his action. Sidhu, who returned from Pakistan via the Wagah-Attari border on Sunday, was the only Indian who attended Khan's swearing-in ceremony at Islamabad. He was seen sitting next to PoK chief Masood Khan and hugging Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Asked about hugging Bajwa, Sidhu told reporters, "if someone (Pak army chief) comes to me and says that we belong to the same culture and we'll open the route to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib (in Pakistan) on first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev's 550th birth anniversary, what else I could do?" On the issue of sitting next to the PoK chief, the Congress leader replied, "If you are 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".

The BJP hit out at Sidhu for hugging the Pakistan Army chief, and asked Rahul Gandhi if he would suspend the leader for doing so. Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh who died in a Pakistan jail in 2013, also hit out at Sidhu, saying he chose friendship over the country by attending the swearing-in ceremony.

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