"Just because of these three-four people, should questions be raised over Kartarpur corridor," said Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday, while sticking to his controversial statement on Pulwama attack.
Addressing a press conference here, Sindhu said: "My words are often distorted. Only a line is taken out from it. My statement is not played fully as a lot of people get scared and feel insecure. I want to repeat what I said on Friday. There is no religion, caste and country of terrorism."
"When a politician moves, there is a lot of security. But when 3,000 jawans move, why there is no tracker? The jawans take care of us day and night. But why nothing is done for their security? Why they were not taken by air," he asked.
"Today, the whole nation is fighting as one. But just because of these three-four people should questions be raised over Kartarpur corridor? Will there be a question mark over the decision taken by two Prime Ministers (of India and Pakistan)," Sidhu further asked.
He went on to ask: "Will India's development stop because of the four terrorists, who killed our soldiers? Will Guru Nanak's philosophy not move ahead because of them? Nobody can let a country bow down in front of terrorists."
"Yesterday, I only said that there should be a permanent solution to this. This should not happen again what we have been witnessing since the last 71 years. This can only be done by putting international pressure. It happened yesterday," he said.
Sidhu's comment on Pulwama terror attack, which left as many as 40 CRPF personnel killed, had drawn flak from various quarters.
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"For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual? It is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished," Sidhu had said during a media interaction on Friday.
When asked about his visit to Pakistan in August 2018 to attend Imran Khan's oath-taking ceremony as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Sidhu said on Saturday: "I was called... They sent an invitation... I went there as a friend. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) went there without any invitation. He gave the same hug. When he came back, Pathankot incident happened. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee went there, Kargil war took place. Those who question me today were sitting next to me there."
As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Awantipora in a terror attack orchestrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan based terror outfit. The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora on February 14.