Asked to sit next to PoK leader, approached by Pak army chief: Navjot Singh Sidhu defends himself

Navjot Singh Sidhu had attended Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s swearing-in.

Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had sparked major controversy after being shown seated next to the president of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s swearing-in and hugging Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, on Sunday defended himself, saying he was asked to sit there.

Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu sparked major controversy after being shown seated next to the president of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s swearing-in and hugging Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. (AFP)

“If you’re invited as a guest of honour somewhere, you sit wherever you are asked to. I was sitting somewhere else but they asked me to sit there,” Sidhu told media persons after returning to India via the Attari-Wagah border on sitting beside President of PoK Masood Khan in the front row at the oath ceremony in Islamabad.

“If someone (Bajwa) comes to me and says that we belong to the same culture and we’ll open Kartarpur border on Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th Prakash Parv, what else I could do?” he said on his interaction with the Pakistan army chief.

(With ANI inputs)