Just about a week ahead of the inauguration of the much-awaited Kartarpur Sahib corridor, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday minced no words to say that Pakistan’s “sudden” decision to accept the 70-year-old demand for opening the passage indicated an “ulterior motive”.
He, at the same time, also reiterated his stand to be cautioned against “Pakistan’s nefarious designs as evident in the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and other recent initiatives of their government to mark the 550th prakash purb”.
“The Sikh community had been asking for opening of the passage to the sacred Kartarpur shrine for the past 70 years but Pakistan’s sudden decision to accept the demand indicated an ulterior motive, aimed at putting a wedge between the Sikh community by
exploiting their religious sentiments,” he said.
He added, “While I do not expect Pakistan to dare to do any mischief through the corridor, it is important, as a border state, for Punjab to remain on alert.”
The Chief Minister maintained that Punjab was
keeping close tabs on the situation and was maintaining heightened alert.
Condemning Capt Amarinder for “trying to sabotage Kartarpur Corridor”, SAD president Sukhbir Badal dubbed the Chief Minister’s statement as “crass political”.
“It is shocking that an elected Chief Minister is playing with the faith of crores of Sikhs by raising questions on the very existence of the Corridor. The chief minister has changed his statements on the Corridor repeatedly. First he opposed it. Then he welcomed it and said he would lead the first jatha to Pakistan. Now three days before its historic opening, he has again cast a shadow on its viability which has hurt Sikh sentiments and is a direct interference in their religious affairs,” he said.
Asking the Chief Minister to behave responsibly, Sukhbir said, “Your antics are not only bringing disrepute to you but also causing confusion and concern about the Sikh community. You are needlessly trying to create a fear psychosis among Punjabis by referring to repeated threats from the ISI. Let me assure you, these threats are well known to the Union Government and our security forces are well equipped to handle them. You should not use these threats as a tool to deny the Sikh community the realization of its ‘ardas’ to have ‘khule darshan deedar’ of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Sri Kartarpur Sahib”.
The SAD president said the Chief Minister was resorting to such statements solely to deflect attention from the sin committed by him by defying the edict of Sri Akal Takth Sahib to join in the main celebrations being organised on November 12 by the SGPC.