Dera Baba Nanak: In a stern message to Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said that Pakistan Army would never be allowed to enter India and vitiate the atmosphere.
“Don’t forget I am myself a soldier and even senior to your (Pakistan’s) former President General Pervez Musharraf. We will never allow you to enter India and vitiate the atmosphere,” said Captain Amarinder Singh.
The Punjab Chief Minister, who was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Kartarpur corridor, said, “I would like to ask Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Bajwa something. As a soldier, which Army teaches to violate ceasefire and kill jawans on the other side?”
“Which Army teaches to send people to attack Pathankot and Amritsar? This is cowardness. I am warning you (Bajwa) that we are also Punjabis. You will not be allowed to enter here and vitiate the atmosphere,” further added Chief Minister Amarinder.
Union Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, who also addressed the event, said that the opening of Kartarpur corridor would promote tourism in the region. “This is one of the most auspicious days of my life, as my department has been chosen to build a 4-lane Kartarpur corridor on the Indian side. The corridor will promote tourism in Punjab,” said Gadkari.
The decision to build the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the International Border (IB) was taken on November 22 by the Union Cabinet. A day later, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also announced that his Prime Minister Imran Khan would take part in the groundbreaking ceremony on of the corridor on November 28 in his country.
The construction of the corridor will facilitate lakhs of pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of river Ravi in Pakistan, where Guru Nanak Dev ji spent 18 years of his life.
Pakistan government on November 23 had extended an invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Punjab Cabinet Minister and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu to participate in the event.
While Sidhu accepted Pakistan’s invitation, Singh declined, citing continued terrorist attacks in his state and killing of Indian soldiers by Pakistan as the reason.
Swaraj too expressed her inability to accept the invitation citing prior commitments but announced that Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Union Minister of State (MoS), Independent Charge, for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri would visit Pakistan, representing India.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]