Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday alleged that the Kartarpur corridor project was part of Pakistan’s Army and Inter-Services Intelligence conspiracy against India, News18 reported.
Last month, New Delhi and Islamabad laid the foundation stone for the corridor that will connect Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Punjab with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur area of Pakistan’s Narowal district. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, died in Kartarpur in 1539.
The Congress leader claimed that the project’s proposal had been pending since Partition and several holy Sikh shrines – Sri Nankana Sahib, Sri Panja Sahib, Dera Sahib and Kartarpur Sahib – were in Pakistani territory. The project, he added, might be used to fuel militancy in India.
Amarinder Singh reiterated his criticism of party colleague and Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for attending the foundation stone laying ceremony in Pakistan. The chief minister, who had declined Islamabad’s invitiation to attend the event, claimed Pakistan Army General Qamar Javed Bajwa had told Sidhu about the project even before Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was sworn into office in August.
Singh urged the Pakistani prime minister to ensure that the Pakistani Army stops the “killing of our soldiers at the borders.”
On December 4, Union minister Vijay Sampla had expressed doubts about Pakistan’s commitment to building the corridor and said the country might use it to push militants into India.
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