CHANDIGARH, Dec 1: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday said a senior Pakistani minister’s disclosure that the Kartarpur Corridor was the “brainchild” of their Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and it will hurt India forever had exposed Islamabad’s nefarious intent behind the initiative.
Singh expressed serious concern over this admission by Pakistan’s Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid and said in validating his stand on the issue, Rashid had completely bared the wicked design of Pakistan behind the Corridor, which India had hoped would emerge as a bridge of peace between the countries. The chief minister also took a strong exception to Rashid’s remark that “the Corridor would hurt India forever, which would forever remember the wound inflicted on it by Gen Bajwa with the Kartarpur Corridor.”
Terming it an open and blatant threat against India’s security and integrity, Singh warned Pakistan to not attempt to indulge in any misadventure against India.
On Saturday, Rashid claimed the Kartarpur Corridor initiative was the brainchild of General Bajwa and it will hurt India forever, contradicting the Pakistani government’s assertion that the idea behind opening the passage for Sikh pilgrims was of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Punjab chief minister, in a statement here, 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 the historic Kartarpur Gurdwara across the border, the threat it posed to India could not be ignored.
The Corridor, connecting Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district with historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, was thrown open on November 9. (PTI)