Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday said that Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid’s disclosure that the Kartarpur Corridor was the ‘brainchild’ of their Army Chief General QamarBajwa and that it will “hurt India forever” exposes Islamabad’s nefarious intent behind the initiative, reported The Indian Express.
Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid had said, ““India will remember forever the kind of wound inflicted on it by Gen Bajwa by opening Kartarpur corridor. Gen Bajwa strongly hit India by opening the corridor. Through this project, Pakistan has created a new environment of peace and won itself love of the Sikh community.”
The statement is likely to ruffle feathers at the very top, especially when the Kartarpur corridor was seen as a bridge of peace between the two sparring countries.
Strongly condemning Rashid’s statement that the corridor would hurt India forever, Amarinder said it was an “open and blatant threat” against India’s security and integrity. He warned Pakistan to not attempt in any untoward action, and in case it did, it would get a befitting reply from India. He also said that any such attempt by Islamabad will meet “retaliation of the kind” that Pakistan would never be able to survive.
The Hindustan Times reported that Amarinder Singh in his statement said that though, as a Sikh, he was happy about opening of the Corridor, the threat it posed to India couldn’t be ignored. He had urged constant caution in the matter saying that through this corridor, Pakistan was trying to win over the sympathies of the Sikhs.
CM Singh said the endeavour of Pakistan of gaining a foothold with the Sikhs was evident in the fact that General Bajwa had disclosed the decision of building the corridor to then Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu at the time of Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister.
He asked Sidhu to be cautious in his dealings with the Pakistan government, urging him to keep his personal equation with the PM aside and not allow it to cloud its judgment in any way that could harm India’s interests.
Pakistan Railway Minister @ShkhRasheed’s disclosure on Kartarpur Corridor has exposed their nefarious designs, says Chief Minister @capt_amarinder Singh. CM warns Pakistan against indulging in any misadventure, says it will be met with strong retaliation from India.
…(1/2)— Government of Punjab (@PunjabGovtIndia) December 1, 2019
Just before the opening of the corridor on November 9 this year, an official familiar with project planning had highlighted specific threats from entities like Khalistan Liberation Force, BabbarKhalsa, Sikhs for Justice, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. The official had also stated that it had asked Pakistan to ensure that the corridor wasn’t used for anti-India activities or propaganda.
When posters featuring Khalistani separatists Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Major General Shabeg Singh and Amrik Singh Khalsa featured in a video welcoming Sikh pilgrims earlier this month, Capt. Singh had told reporters in Chandigarh that Pakistan was trying to foment trouble and misusing the corridor by trying to revive Sikh militancy in Punjab.
In Pakistan, the influence of the Army over the government has always been quite apparent. The opening of the Kartarpur corridor that was supposed to be the initiative of Imran Khan to improve ties with India, has now emerged to be the brainchild of General Bajwa. It was also an initiative that drew high praise for the Pakistan prime minister. It has now also come to light that the initiative to open the corridor came from elsewhere: General Bajwa, who has now gotten a three year extension as Army chief from the end of his tenure in 2019, though signed off by Imran Khan ordered this opening!
Khan has also always come across as a ‘selected PM’ instead of an ‘elected PM’ due to the invisible running of the government by the Army.
The opening of the Kartarpur corridor on Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary, that connects Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district in India with the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara in Narowal, Punjab, was seen as a step towards peace and a means to diffuse tensions between the two nations.
However, Rashid’s recent revelations have once again seemed to have stirred a hornet’s nest and raised the ugly head of evil conspiracies between the two countries once again. It remains to be seen if Pakistan is playing mind-games with India, trying to use innocents as pawns in furthering its political interests.
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