Amarinder Singh slams Pak's disclosure on Kartarpur; says 'nefarious intentions exposed'

On Saturday, a top Pakistani Minister had revealed that the opening of the historic Kartarpur Corridor was the brainchild of Pakistani Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, contradicting the government's assertation that the holy place for the Sikh community was ideated by Imran Khan. Reacting to this, Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday has slammed Pakistan and said that the Pak Min's disclosure has exposed their nefarious intentions. Amarinder Singh also warned Pak and said that any misadventure will be met with retaliation of the kind they won’t survive. 

Given Pak Minister Sheikh Rashid's revelation, the chief minister also urged his former cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu to be cautious in his dealings with the Imran Khan government in Pakistan. Singh took strong exception to Rashid's remarks that "the Corridor would hurt India forever, which would forever remember the wound inflicted on it by Gen Bajwa with the Kartarpur Corridor."

'They would never be able to survive' 

Terming it an open and blatant threat against India's security and integrity, he warned Pakistan to not 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," he said, warning 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, Singh said in a statement here that any such attempt by Islamabad would be met with retaliation of the kind that "they would never be able to survive".

Kartarpur Corridor inaugurated on November 9

The Corridor, connecting Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district with the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, was thrown open on November 9, three days ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of the Sikhism founder. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the portion of the Corridor falling on the Indian side while PM Khan inaugurated the part on the Pakistani side.

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'The threat it posed to our country could not be ignored' 

The Punjab chief minister 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 to Indian devotees to Kartarpur Gurdwara, "the threat it posed to our country could not be ignored". Singh had been repeatedly urging caution on the matter, warning that Pakistan was trying to win the sympathies of Sikhs by opening the Corridor to further the ISI-backed 'Referendum 2020 agenda' (a campaign by the foreign-based organisation Sikhs for Justice for a separate Sikh state. SFJ has been banned by the Indian government).

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(With PTI inputs)