On photo with Pro-Khalistan leader, Navjot Singh Sidhu says ‘thousands of photos were taken, don't know who is Gopal Singh Chawla’

Earlier Gopal Singh Chawla, the general secretary of Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (PSGPC), Thursday shared the photograph on his Facebook page.

Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu; towards his left is Khalistani leader Gopal S Chawla/ Image tweeted by @mssirsa

NEW DELHI: After controversy erupted during Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's Pakistan visit for the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor foundation laying ceremony where he got a photograph clicked with Khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawala, Sidhu on Thursday said that he does not know who is Gopal Chawla. While talking to news agency ANI, Sidhu said “There were probably 5-10,000 pictures taken of and with me there(in Pakistan), I don't know who is Gopal Chawla” Earlier Gopal Singh Chawla, the general secretary of Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (PSGPC) shared the photograph on his Facebook page. Chawla, a known pro-Khalistan voice, was also seen shaking hands with Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa at the ground-breaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan on Wednesday. Sidhu was invited by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the proposed corridor. Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. It was established by the Sikh Guru in 1522. The first gurdwara, Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, was built here, where Guru Nanak Dev is said to have died. The corridor will facilitate the visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, is expected to be completed within six months. Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur.