Chandigarh, August 22
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday warned against “atrocious and ill-conceived comments that were potentially dangerous to the peace and stability of the state and the country”, referring to recent statements made by two of Navjot Sidhu’s advisers on sensitive national issues like Kashmir and Pakistan.
A press release issued from the Chief Minister’s Office said Captain Amarinder urged Sidhu’s advisers to stick to giving advice to the PPCC president and “not speak on matters of which they clearly had little or no knowledge, and had no understanding of the implications of their comments”.
This was in response to Sidhu’s adviser Pyare Lal Garg’s recent questioning of the chief minister’s criticism of Pakistan and a previous comment by another Sidhu aide, Malwinder Singh Mali, on Kashmir. Sidhu appointed both as advisers recently.
The press release said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was shocked at their “extraordinary statements”, which he viewed as “totally misplaced and antagonistic to the stated position of India and the Congress on Pakistan and Kashmir”, and urged the Punjab Congress president to rein in his advisers.
“Kashmir was and is an inalienable part of India,” he said, adding that with his proclamation to the contrary, Mali had “effectively and inexplicably toed Islamabad’s line”, the press release said.
“This is totally anti-national,” he said and criticised him for not withdrawing his remarks despite condemnation not only from other parties but also from within the Congress.
Garg’s statement that any criticism of Pakistan by Captain Amarinder was not in the interest of Punjab showed Sidhu’s advisor was clearly disconnected from the ground reality, the chief minister said.
“The fact, which every Punjabi and in fact every Indian knows, is that Pakistan’s threat to us is real. Every day they are pushing weapons and drugs into Punjab via drones in a brazen attempt to destabilise our state, and our nation. Punjabi soldiers are dying at the borders at the hands of Pak-backed forces,” he said. “Garg may have forgotten the thousands of Punjabi lives lost in the fire of Pak-backed terrorism of the 1980s and 1990s, but I have not. Nor have the people of Punjab. And we will continue to do everything in our power to fight off Pakistan’s dangerous games.”
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