Close X
Saturday, March 1, 2025
ADVT 
India

Sushma Assured Me Draft On Kartarpur Ready, Would Soon Send Letter To Pak: Navjot Sidhu

Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Sep, 2018 01:25 PM
    With two union ministers gunning for him on his hug with the Pakistan Army chief and his claims on passage for Indian pilgrims for the Kartarpur gurdwara, Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday defended himself saying External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had assured him that a letter would be sent to Islamabad regarding the corridor.
     
     
    Sidhu said on Tuesday that Sushma Swaraj, whom he met in New Delhi on Saturday, had assured him that the draft regarding a request for the Kartarpur corridor was ready. He claimed that she told him that the letter would be sent to Pakistan soon.
     
     
    However, union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, in a statement in New Delhi on Tuesday, said that there was no substance in what Sidhu was claiming.
     
     
    Badal asked Congress President Rahul Gandhi to "tell what action he will take against Congress minister Navjot Sidhu for betraying the people of the country and misusing Sikh sentiments on the Kartarpur corridor issue to hide his traitorous conduct.
     
     
    "It is now clear that there is no Pakistan proposal to open the Kartarpur corridor. The same has been officially announced by Sushma Swaraj. 
     
     
    "Now it is clear that Sidhu deliberately lied to the people and claimed he had received an assurance about opening the Kartarpur corridor from the Pakistan Army chief to ward off criticism for hugging the General. 
     
     
    "Now Rahul Gandhi should disclose whether Sidhu went to Pakistan for his friend Imran Khan's swearing in ceremony with his blessings and whether he was also part of the conspiracy to play with the sentiments of the Sikh community. 
     
     
    "If not, then Rahul should expel Sidhu from the Congress immediately for betraying the people of the country and dis-respecting our martyrs," Badal said.
     
     
    She challenged Sidhu to show proof of the clearance given by the Pakistan government to open the Kartarpur corridor.
     
     
    "If Sidhu is such close friends with Imran Khan, as claimed by him, he should tell his friend to give a letter stating his government was ready to open the Kartarpur corridor and we will take up this issue with our government to get it ratified. 
     
     
    "He should also ask his friend to stop the killings on the international border and stop exporting terror to India," she stated.
     
    Sushma Swaraj, in a letter to Badal on September 15 regarding the Kartarpur corridor, said that the "(Indian) government has been taking up the matter with Pakistan.
     
     
    "However, Pakistan has so far neither agreed to include visits to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib by the Indian pilgrims under the bilateral protocol on visits to religious shrines of 1974 nor has it sent any official communication for establishing a corridor," the Minister said.
     
     
    Sidhu had recently written a letter to Sushma Swaraj urging her to take a "positive step" in the matter.
     
     
    Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also criticized Sidhu on Tuesday for hugging the Pakistan Army Chief. 

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Talib Hussain, Who Led Agitation Demanding Justice In Kathua Case, Arrested On Rape Charges

    Talib Hussain, Who Led Agitation Demanding Justice In Kathua Case, Arrested On Rape Charges
    According to the complaint of the woman, Talib is her relative and met her in the forest when she went to the Chadwa jungle for grazing cattle. 

    Talib Hussain, Who Led Agitation Demanding Justice In Kathua Case, Arrested On Rape Charges

    Biogas Plant To Run Community Kitchen At Golden Temple

    The SGPC will set up a biogas plant at the Golden Temple kitchen, which offers langar (community food) to at least 60,000 devotees daily.

    Biogas Plant To Run Community Kitchen At Golden Temple

    Why A Road-Safety Rule In Chandigarh Has Upset Some Sikhs

    Why A Road-Safety Rule In Chandigarh Has Upset Some Sikhs
    The order has triggered protests from Sikh groups who want all Sikh women, including those who do not wear a turban, to be exempt from wearing helmets.

    Why A Road-Safety Rule In Chandigarh Has Upset Some Sikhs

    WATCH: Gurpreet Ghuggi Openly Comes Out In Support Of Sukhpal Khaira

    WATCH: Gurpreet Ghuggi Openly Comes Out In Support Of Sukhpal Khaira
    Popular Punjabi actor Gurpreet Singh Waraich (Ghuggi), who was the convenor of Punjab unit of Aam Aadmi Party during the last Vidhan Sabha election, has openly come out in support of ousted Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira.

    WATCH: Gurpreet Ghuggi Openly Comes Out In Support Of Sukhpal Khaira

    21 DMK Members 'Died In Grief' Over M Karunanidhi’s Ill Health

    21 DMK Members 'Died In Grief' Over M Karunanidhi’s Ill Health
    The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam said on Wednesday 21 of its party workers have died unable to bear the "shock" of the illness and hospitalisation of party chief M Karunanidhi.

    21 DMK Members 'Died In Grief' Over M Karunanidhi’s Ill Health

    PSEB Recruitment Scam: Punjab Ex-Education Minister Tota Singh Acquitted

    PSEB Recruitment Scam: Punjab Ex-Education Minister Tota Singh Acquitted
    A Mohali court on Wednesday acquitted former Education Minister Tota Singh while sentencing four others to three years  in the recruitment scam case in the Punjab School Education Board.

    PSEB Recruitment Scam: Punjab Ex-Education Minister Tota Singh Acquitted