'Will go to Pakistan 1000 times if invited by Imran Khan': Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu defended hugging Qamar Javed Bajwa saying that he got caught in the moment after hearing that Sikh pilgrims may get access to a shrine across the border.

Navjot Singh Sidhu said that he will visit the neighbouring country thousand times if Imran Khan invites him. (PTI)

New Delhi: Former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu compared his emotional reaction of hugging the Pakistan Army chief with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to Lahore in 2015, when he hugged the then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. Terming it as a natural reaction, Sidhu while talking exclusively to ABP News said, "It was a natural human emotional reaction. I can't understand why this hug is different from Modi-Sharif's?" Sidhu also said that he will visit the neighbouring country thousand times if Imran Khan invites him. "Will go to Pakistan 1000 times if I am invited by Imran Khan," the Congress leader told ABP News. The Punjab minister defended hugging Qamar Javed Bajwa saying that he got caught in the moment after hearing that Sikh pilgrims may get access to a shrine across the border. Sidhu said it was an emotional moment for him when the Pakistan General told him that the country was making efforts to open a corridor for pilgrims from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to Kartarpur Sahib. Sidhu said Bajwa spotted him sitting in the front row at the Islamabad ceremony where had met the minister with enthusiasm. The leader further said that Bajwa told him that Pakistan was making efforts to open the corridor from India's Dera Baba Nanak to Kartarpur Sahib. This, Sidhu said, was being done to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. The two shrines are about three kilometres apart. The minister said crores of pilgrims have been waiting to pay obeisance at Kartarpur Sahib, the place where Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years. Watch the full video of the Exclusive Interview of Navjot Singh Sidhu by Jagvinder Patiyal-