Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday forwarded Navjot Singh Sidhu's letter, seeking permission to visit Pakistan to attend the inauguration of Kartarpur corridor, to Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh for necessary action.
This was disclosed here by an official spokesperson of the state government, who said the Chief Minister had received Sidhu's letter this morning and immediately sent it to the state's Chief Secretary (CS) for the needful.
Congress leader Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur had told media persons earlier in the day that her husband has sent a letter to Chief Minister Singh and the Ministry of External Affairs, seeking the permission to visit Pakistan. She also said her husband would also request Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan not to charge any fee from the pilgrims visiting Kartarpur Sahib.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Chief Minister informed the media that along with all other MLAs, Sidhu had also been invited to join the all-party 'jatha' going from Punjab to Kartarpur Sahib via the corridor on November 9.
The Deputy Commissioners had contacted the MLAs in their respective districts, and the Amritsar DC had been pursuing the matter with Sidhu's office, but the latter had failed to respond, said Amarinder.
Captain Amarinder also lamented the politicisation of the Kartarpur corridor issue in violation of the ideology of the great founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, whose 550th birth anniversary the world is celebrating this year.
"India should have stood as one, especially considering the deeper agenda which seemed to be behind the Pak decision to open the corridor and also to set up a university in the name of the first Sikh Guru, but instead the whole issue has been politicised for vested interests," he said.
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The Chief Minister reiterated his stance that politics should have been put aside and the mega event should have been left to be organised by the state government, as per the past practice on such occasions.
He along with the rest of the Sikhs was extremely happy at the thought of visiting Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, which had always been part of their 'ardas,' said the Chief Minister.
However, he made it clear that he still had his suspicions about Pakistan's intent and believed the corridor opening to be an ISI operation, aimed at wooing the Sikh community for the Referendum 20:20, being promoted under the guise of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) forum.
"We have to be on our toes," said the Chief Minister, warning India against taking Pakistan on its face value, especially in view of the heightened ISI activity being noted in Punjab in recent months.
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