Amarinder Singh sees bigger design of Pak Army in Kartarpur affair

Dubbing the whole affair initiated by Pakistan on the Kartarpur corridor as a bigger conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan Army Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said the hostile neighbour is trying to revive militancy in Punjab but it will not be allowed to succeedCiting that Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had broken the news of opening the Kartarpur Corridor to Navjot Singh Sidhu even before Imran Khan was sworn in as their Prime Minister Amarinder said the whole affair smacked of a bigger conspiracyThe opening of the Kartarpur corridor is clearly a game plan of the ISI Pakistans InterServices Intelligence A bigger conspiracy seems to have been hatched by Pakistan Army against India Pakistan is attempting to revive militancy in Punjab and thus everyone should be wary of all of its overtures no matter how grand they appear to be Amarinder told a TV news channelThe Sidhu affair is being unnecessarily hyped and those raising it have clearly failed to see the ISI game plan said Amarinder lashing out at the Akalis for branding the Punjab Minister as stooge of the Pakistan Prime Minister the Chief Ministers spokesperson said here on SundayDismissing the issue as nothing more than a credit war Amarinder lambasted the Akalis and the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP central leadership for indulging in unwarranted controversy over his Chief Ministers relations with Sidhu in a bid to divert public attention from the core issue of Pakistans continued and deliberate perpetration of terror activities in Punjab with the ultimate aim of destabilising the border stateAmarinder said in the interview that the demand for opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor was pending since partition as several holy Sikh shrines Sri Nankana Sahib Sri Panja Sahib Dera Sahib and Kartarpur Sahib had gone to PakistanEven former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh had taken up the issue of opening the Kartarpur Corridor with Pakistan I had myself raised this issue with my Pakistan Punjab counterpart Parvez Elahi and with then President Parvez Musharraf during my previous tenure as Chief Minister Amarinder pointed outThe Chief Minister said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is undoubtedly making efforts to bring peace tranquility and harmony with India but at the same time he should also prevail upon the top brass of Pakistani Army to ensure that killings of Indian soldiers at borders are stopped immediatelyAsked why he opted not to go to Pakistan for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Amarinder said he declined the invite because he could not think of going there while Indian soldiers and civilians were being killed by the Pakistan ArmyOn the issue of Navjot Sidhus visit to Pakistan for the groundbreaking ceremony the Chief Minister said he had told Sidhu that he had declined the invite by writing a letter to the Pakistan Minister for foreign affairs and had also shared a copy of the same on the social media Despite his advice against going to Pakistan Sidhu went ahead due to his friendship with Imran Khan said the Chief Minister adding that this was not unreasonableHe said that he himself has many friends there including former Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister Parvez ElahiWe had been meeting frequently during my previous tenure and Elahi had also been coming to meet me in Patiala Amarinder saidDownplaying the controversy around his rumoured feud with Sidhu Amarinder said Navjot Sidhu is a likeable person and he shares warm ties with even Sidhus parents when the cricketerturnedministers father was president of Patiala district Congress unit and his Amarinders mother Mohinder Kaur was the Member of Parliament from PatialaThe Chief Minister said that he and Sidhu were not at loggerheads as reported by the media and he has absolutely no problems with Sidhu in running the governmentAmarinder said that Sidhu always speaks in a forthright manner and his only problem is that sometimes he shoots before he thinksResponding to another question regarding Sidhus remarks that Rahul Gandhi is his captain the Chief Minister said that this was hardly any issue to be raised as Sidhu has always treated him Amarinder as a fatherly figureAmarinder Singh warned Pakistan against carrying on its nefarious designs and urged it to desist from trying to foment trouble in PunjabGeneral Bajwa should understand that Punjab Police is fully geared up to take Pakistan headon if it continues to vitiate peaceful atmosphere of the state through terror Bajwa is sadly mistaken in underestimating the unbounded capacities and capabilities of Punjab Police in facing any daunting challenge the Chief Minister saidHe advised Bajwa not to compare Punjab with the 1970s and 1980s when its police force was a meager 1600017000AThe force now is well equipped with high tech weapons and ammunition along with professionally committed commando battalions and the Punjab Armed Force to effectively tackle any challenging task the Chief Minister assertedReiterating his governments commitment to break the backbone of terrorism Amarinder said that no one would be allowed to push Punjab back into the black days of terrorismCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever