Prime Minister Imran Khan has defended Navjot Singh Sidhu, a minister for the Indian state of Punjab, calling him an “ambassador of peace”, amid political backlash over his visit to Pakistan.
“I want to thank Sidhu for coming to Pakistan for my oath taking,” newly-elected Khan tweeted.
“He was an ambassador of peace & was given amazing love & affection by ppl of Pakistan,” he tweeted yesterday. “Those in India who targeted him are doing a gt disservice to peace in the subcontinent – without peace our ppl cannot progress.”
A former Test opener, Sidhu crossed over to neighbouring Pakistan after being invited by his cricketer friend Khan to the latter’s swearing-in ceremony as prime minister on Saturday.
Pictures of Sidhu hugging Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and sharing the front row with the head of Pakistan-administered Kashmir Masood Khan were splashed all over Indian media.
Sidhu was attacked by Indian politicians, including those from his Indian National Congress, for the hug, saying that he should have avoided the gesture at a time when Indian soldiers were being killed in clashes with Pakistani forces on the border.
The images were seized up by opposition leaders who called Sidhu’s actions shameful and accused him of compromising the nation’s dignity.
The chief minister of northern Punjab state said that it is wrong of his cabinet colleague to show affection for the Pakistani army chief when “Indian soldiers were being killed everyday”.
Earlier at a press conference, Sidhu dismissed criticism over attending Khan’s inauguration, saying that goodwill measures are important in improving relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
“For peace and prosperity [between both nations], such goodwill messages are necessary,” Sidhu said.
Sidhu, 54, said that his act of hugging the Pakistani army chief was an “emotional response”, after Bajwa informed him that his country’s government was making efforts to open Kartarpur Sahib – a holy Sikh shrine in Pakistan – to Sikh pilgrims from India.
“For me this was a very emotional moment and there was a feeling of affection. After that brief moment, there was no meeting (between us),” Sidhu told reporters. “It just lasted a minute maybe. So I am sad and there is a bit of disappointment on this front.”
A doughty opening batsman, Sidhu is remembered for famously hitting Shane Warne to all corners at the start of the great Australian spinner’s Test career.
With his razor-sharp wit and colourful turbans – usually paired with a matching blazer-pocket handkerchief – Sidhu forged a successful career as a pundit after retirement, before also becoming a gameshow host.
Meanwhile, domestic media reported that the radical Hindu group Bajrang Dal had put a bounty of Rs500,000 rupees ($7,100) on Sidhu’s head, while a sedition case was filed in an Indian town over the hug.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the heart of the decades-long conflict between the nuclear-armed foes, with both sides laying claim to the conflict-riven territory.
Ties, including sports and cultural contacts, plummeted after the 2008 militant attacks in Mumbai, which New Delhi blames on Pakistani militant groups.
This handout photograph released by the Press Information Department (PID) on August 18, shows Prime Minister Imran Khan with members of the 1992 Cricket world cup team and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu (top right) in Islamabad.
