Decision of Navjot Singh Sidhu to return to Pakistan his "way of thinking": CM Amarinder Singh

Punjab Prime Minister Amarinder Singh said on Monday that the decision of his minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to visit Pakistan on the occasion of the inauguration ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor was "his way of thinking. "

Sidhu, a Punjab minister, on Sunday accepted Pakistan's invitation to attend the ceremony on Wednesday, while Singh declined the invitation, citing repeated terrorist attacks in his country.

As a man who served in the Indian Army, said Singh, he could not tolerate the killing of innocent Indians by Pakistani security forces and therefore could not surrender in the neighboring country.

After Sidhu's decision to travel to Pakistan for the groundbreaking ceremony, Singh told reporters after the foundation ceremony of the first stone of the Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib corridor in Gurdaspur that it will not be necessary was "his way of thinking".

On the central government's decision to send his ministers to Pakistan for the ceremony, the chief minister of Punjab said that it was their responsibility to do what they thought appropriate, but he should have been more sensitive to the feelings of Indian soldiers and citizens.

"The Center can not turn a blind eye to what is happening in India as a result of Pakistan's policy and support for terrorist groups," Singh said.

He said that the world knew that Pakistan supported terrorist activities in India, citing for example the attacks on Pathankot (2016), Mumbai (2008), Dina Nagar on Gurdaspur (2015) and Jammu -and Kashmir.

Singh said he would not go to Pakistan as long as it would not stop unleashing the cycle of violence in India.

"If you think that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan can stop him, that will not happen, governments are working under the army in Pakistan, the army is a power in itself. Pakistani army chief, General Bajwa, understand that such things should not happen (yet) … Armies do not fight innocent women and children, armies do not throw grenades on the religious congregation, the armies are there to defend the country, "he said.

In August, Sidhu's visit to Pakistan as a result of Khan's swearing had been criticized by opposition parties for his embrace of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan's army chief. Sidhu had claimed that General Bajwa had told him about "making efforts to open the Kartarpur corridor."

Kartarpur is located in Shakargarh, Narowal District, Punjab Province, Pakistan. Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, has spent more than 18 years of his life here.

Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is about three kilometers from the Pakistan border.