Sidhu writes 3rd letter to MEA, will go to Pak if no reply

November 07, 2019 17:05

Former Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday wrote to the External Affairs Ministry, daring it to make clear if it has any inhibition on his attending the opening ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan. The Congress leader added if he receives no response to the latest letter --the third one written by him -- he will go to the shrine across the border like "any other pilgrim".

He apparently meant that he would go to the shrine, but not through the corridor which allows visa-free travel to pilgrims. "I categorically state that if the government has any inhibitions and say no then, as a law abiding citizen, I will not go. But if you do not respond to my third letter, then I will proceed to Pakistan as millions of Sikh devotees go on eligible visa," Sidhu wrote.

It was his third letter to the ministry, seeking permission to attend the inauguration of the corridor in Pakistan on November 9. In this latest letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the cricketer-turned-politician also expressed his anguish over "not receiving any response to his communication".

"Despite repeated reminders, you have not responded to whether or not the government has granted me permission to go to Pakistan for the inauguration ceremony of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur corridor. The delay and no response is a hindrance to my future course of action," he wrote.

On Wednesday, the Amritsar (East) MLA in his second letter had said that he had been invited by the Pakistan government for the opening ceremony of the corridor, which will connect the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Indian Punjab.

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