'No comments': Navjot Singh Sidhu refuses to comment on Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa's speech, says peace is only way

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday refused to comment on Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa’s speech on the occasion of Pakistan’s Defence and Martyrs’ Day on Thursday. Bajwa had “ vowed to avenge the blood being shed on the border of the country”, and said the Pakistani Army had been ‘valiant’ during the wars of 1965 and 1971. Sidhu, having created controversy back home with his demeanour on his visit to Pakistan for Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony, spoke to the media on Friday about the Pakistani government’s decision to open the corridor of the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. “There can be no bigger happiness than this for the people of Punjab,” he said, according to ANI.

No comments. The only way forward is talks. The only way forward is peace: Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa's recent statement against India pic.twitter.com/KIrFVNld3P

— ANI (@ANI) September 7, 2018

However, Sidhu refused to comment on Bajwa’s speech. The refusal becomes significant due to the controversy created when Sidhu embraced the army chief after the swearing-in ceremony on 18 August. The BJP on 22 August had attacked Sidhu for hugging Bajwa and for sitting beside the President of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) at the event and demanded his suspension from the party. In the press conference on Friday, Sidhu thanked Khan for the “noble gesture” of making the corridor available for the pilgrimage. “He has not only taken steps, he has walked miles. I am indebted forever,” Sidhu said. “Gurunanak_ji_ is revered around the world,” he added. Sidhu also said that nobody can object to the goodwill gesture by Khan, and made a “heartfelt request” to Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and the Centre, to “take a step” towards peace between the two neighbours. Reiterating that he had gone to Pakistan “with only a message of love”, Sidhu said that he “did not interfere with the government’s policy on Pakistan” in any way, and visited the country with all the right permissions. On Thursday, Dawn quoted Bajwa as saying, “September 6, 1965, is an important day in the history of our nation. It is the day when the armed forces, with the full support of the nation, defeated an evil adversary. Every Pakistani was the nation’s soldier. We were all united to defend our country and played our respective roles. Our soldiers jumped into the fiery pits of warfare but did not let our nation be harmed,” on Pakistan’s Defence and Martyrs’ Day.