Imran thanks Sidhu, calls him peace ambassador

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Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday came out in support of Navjot Singh Sidhu who is embroiled in a controversy after attending his oath-taking ceremony, saying those who are criticising the Punjab minister are doing a great disservice to peace in the subcontinent.
Sidhu had attended the event in Pakistan on August 18. He was slammed by the Opposition and earned displeasure even from his own Chief Minister Amarinder Singh over his decision to visit Pakistan and hug its Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The former cricketer Tuesday held a press conference in Chandigarh to defend his decision. “I want to thank Sidhu for coming to Pakistan for my oath taking. He was an ambassador of peace and was given amazing love and affection by people of Pakistan,” Khan tweeted soon after Sidhu’s press confrence.
“Those in India who targeted him are doing a great disservice to peace in the subcontinent – without peace our people cannot progress,” Khan said. To move forward, Khan said Pakistan and India must engage in dialogue and resolve their conflicts, including the Kashmir issue.
“The best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent is to resolve our differences through dialogue and start trading,” he said. Sidhu during the press conference said his visit to Pakistan was not “political” but just on a “warm invitation from a friend”. The India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place.
The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016 and India’s surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The sentencing of alleged Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to death by a military court in April over espionage charges last year further deteriorated bilateral ties.
The two sides often accuse each other of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control, resulting in civilian casualties.