Sidhu reacts to controversy on hugging Pak Army Chief, sitting beside PoK President

Under attack for hugging Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and sitting beside PoK president Masood Khan in Islamabad, Former cricketer and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday returned home after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Navjot Singh Sidhu. Photo: ANI

AMRITSAR: Under attack for hugging Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and sitting beside PoK president Masood Khan in Islamabad, Former cricketer and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday returned home after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Reacting to the controversy, Sidhu said he was invited to Khan's oath-taking ceremony as a guest of honour and the decision to sit next to the PoK president was not his. "If you are invited as a guest of honour somewhere, you sit wherever you are asked to. I was sitting somewhere else but they asked me to sit there," Sidhu said. On hugging General Bajwa, Sidhu defended his action asking what was he supposed to do if someone says we belong to the same culture and talks of opening the route to the historic Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. "if someone (Pak army chief) comes to me and says that we belong to the same culture and we'll open the route to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib (in Pakistan) on first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev's 550th birth anniversary, what else I could do?" he said. Earlier, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Sidhu attended Khan's oath-taking ceremony in his "personal capacity" and the government has nothing to do with it. Amarinder, however, disapproved of Sidhu hugging Bajwa, saying it was wrong for him to have shown the affection towards him but gave his cabinet minister the benefit of doubt on sitting beside Masood Khan saying that perhaps he didn't know who is he sitting next to. "As far as attending the swearing-in ceremony is concerned, he went there in his personal capacity so it has nothing to do with us. About him being seated next to the PoK President, maybe he (Sidhu) didn't know who he was," Amarinder said. "As far as hugging the Pakistan Army Chief is concerned I am not in its favour. It was wrong for him to have shown the affection towards the Pakistan Army Chief," he added.

#WATCH: Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh reacts on #NavjotSinghSidhu hugging Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during Pakistan PM Imran Khan's swearing-in ceremony yesterday, says 'It was wrong for him to have shown the affection towards the Pakistan Army Chief' pic.twitter.com/WcVSYcqGlN

— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

"Every day our jawans are getting martyred. To hug their chief General Bajwa, I am against this. The fact is that the man should understand that our soldiers are being killed every day. My own regiment lost one Major and two jawans a few months ago and every day somebody is being shot and whether the man who pulled the trigger is to blame or the man who gives the order which is the chief, and the chief is General Bajwa." Sidhu was among the special guests present at the oath-taking ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (the President House) in Islamabad on Saturday on the invitation of Imran Khan. The BJP and the Akali Dal have hit out at Sidhu for visiting Pakistan, ignoring the sentiments of the people of his country, mourning the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.