Pakistan minister's Kartarpur Corridor claim exposes their nefarious design: Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday said that Pakistan Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid’s recent claim that the newly-inaugurated Kartarpur Corridor was the brainchild of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has exposed Islamabad’s nefarious intent behind the initiative.

It may be recalled that Sheikh Rashid had created a controversy by claiming that “the Kartarpur Corridor would hurt India, which would forever remember the wound inflicted on it by Gen Bajwa with this initiative.''

Lashing out at the Imran Khan government in Pakistan, the Punjab CM said that Rashid had completely bared the wicked design of Islamabad behind the Corridor, which India had hoped would emerge as a bridge of peace between the countries.

Terming Rashid’s remarks ''an open and blatant threat against India’s security and integrity'', Captain Amarinder warned Pakistan not to 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,” warned the Chief Minister, asserting that 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 fulfill its despicable ambitions against the former, he said that any such attempt by Islamabad would be met with retaliation of the kind that they would never be able to survive.

Captain Amarinder recalled that he had all along maintained that while he was extremely happy, as a Sikh, at the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor to enable access to Indian devotees to the historic Kartarpur Gurdwara, the threat it posed to our country could not be ignored. 

The Chief Minister had, in fact, been repeatedly urging caution over the matter, warning that Pakistan was trying to win the sympathies of the Sikhs by opening the corridor to further the ISI-backed Referendum 2020 agenda.

This had been quite evident from various facts, most notably that Bajwa had disclosed the Pakistani decision to build the Corridor to then Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu at the time of Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony, said the Chief Minister. 

“Imran had not even taken over then, yet their Army Chief had spoken about this to Sidhu. How was it possible unless Bajwa was the one behind the Corridor decision,” asked Captain Amarinder, recalling that he had pointed this out long back.

Given the revelation of the Pak minister, Captain Amarinder also urged Sidhu to be more cautious in his dealings with the Imran Khan government and not allow his personal friendship with the Pakistan Prime Minister overshadow his judgement in any way, as that could be harmful to India’s interests.