Navjot Sidhu now invited by Imran Khan for Kartarpur corridor foundation ceremony

Navjot Singh Sidhu said he would seek permission from chief minister Amarinder Singh and the government of India to visit Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has invited Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for the foundation-laying ceremony of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor in Pakistan.

Confirming the development, Sidhu said: “I received invitation from Pakistan PM Imran Khan and the Pakistan high commission in India has also contacted me to know my itinerary.”

The minister said he would seek permission from chief minister Amarinder Singh and the government of India to visit the neighbouring country.

Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone for the corridor on the Pakistani side on November 28, while on November 26, President Ram Nath Kovind and Amarinder Singh will do the groundbreaking ceremony on the Indian side.

The move comes a day after India and Pakistan agreed to construct the corridors on their respective sides so that Sikh devotees could pay obeisance at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, which is located across Ravi river in Pakistan and is about 4km from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur.

Earlier this year, Sidhu landed in a controversy after his Islamabad visit on a personal invitation to attend Imran’s swearing-in as Prime Minister on August 18 when he hugged Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Bajwa.

Later, justifying his visit to Pakistan, Sidhu said he went there as a messenger of peace and hugged the Pakistani army chief in an emotional response to the information provided by him that their country is working on a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib.