‘Friendship with Amarinder platonic’

Pakistani journalist Aroosa Aslam says the ex-Punjab CM is a 'very close friend', reports Pawan Sharma.

Aroosa Alam, the Pakistani journalist who has been romantically linked with Amarinder Singh, has said the former
Punjab Chief Minister was a “very wise friend” and that her relationship with him was platonic.

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“I am his friend and not in love with him,” she said at an event in Chandigarh Press Club. “He will be my friend always.”

Aroosa was at pains to clear the air with reports swirling about her romantic liaison with Amarinder at whose Moti Bagh palace in Patiala she has been staying for the last three days.

The journalist from across the border also praised Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur, a Lok Sabha MP, for being a very good hostess. “This is not a friendship between two individuals, instead there is a friendship between the two families,” she said.

“Early this year, I was in India with my two sons, the elder one is 33 years old, and other members of the family. That time, we also met all close relatives of Captain Singh, including (former external affairs minister) Natwar Singh.”

Aroosa hinted that vested interests may be at work to tarnish her image. “I have a social status in Pakistan where the press does not touch such issues. There seems to be a political motivation behind raking up this controversy,” she said.

Aroosa, believed to be in her fifties, even compared Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to Amarinder, saying: “No one knows Badal in Pakistan. But Capt Singh is very popular there.” She said that soon after she started meeting Amarinder, she was dubbed an ISI agent.

“This is very unfair and absurd. I have been made a source of entertainment here. It is very unfortunate.” Asked about her remark that she would have married Amarinder had religion and law not been a hindrance, she clarified jokingly: “Neither will Capt. Singh change his religion nor am I. The Indian media will have to end this controversy. The ball is now in your court. Please don’t target me.”‘Friendship with Amarinder platonic’