Two Indian ministers criticise Sidhu for hugging COAS Gen Bajwa

ISLAMABAD: Two most powerful Indian ministers severely criticised cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday for visiting Pakistan and hugging Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

According to media reports, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reprimanded Sidhu for “messing up” the issue of Kartarpur Sahib corridor and “misusing” political clearance by hugging Pakistan’s Army chief.

Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Navjot Singh Sidhu’s gesture of hugging General Bajwa impacted soldiers back home, saying that the Punjab minister could have “avoided it”.

Sidhu had courted a controversy by hugging Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during his visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in of Imran Khan as the prime minister. He had claimed that he did so as Bajwa told him that the Pakistan government was working for opening of Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims from Indian state of Punjab.

“Sidhu has a lot of admirers... somebody of that stature going there and then hugging the chief of the army, an army about which in India we have very clear feelings, it certainly has an impact on soldiers..., it demoralises the people. I wish Sidhu would have avoided it (hug),” she said during an interaction at the Indian Women’s Press Corp on Tuesday. Union Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal claimed that Sushma Swaraj “reprimanded” Sidhu over the Congress leader’s recent visit to Pakistan to attend the swearing-in ceremony of country’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the Indian Union Minister for Food Processing said, “External Affairs Minister reprimands Navjot Sidhu for messing up Kartarpur Sahib corridor dialogue and misusing political clearance granted for private visit by hugging military chief, responsible for killing our soldiers.”