A month after Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s hugplomacy in the neighbouring warring nation Pakistan, a controversy has erupted not only on his gesture but also on his claims on opening of Kartarpur corridor.

The issue again came to limelight on Monday after Sidhu met the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi to raise the issue of opening of Kartarpur corridor.

As Sidhu claimed that Swaraj has assured him of soon writing to the Pak authorities on opening of Kartarpur corridor, Union Minister and SAD MP from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Tuesday claimed that no formal assurance has ever been received by the Indian Government from Pakistan on the issue.

Launching a scathing attack on Sidhu over his claims that Pakistan is willing to open the Kartarpur corridor, Harsimrat said that he had received a clarification from Swaraj saying that there has been no official communication from Pakistani government for establishing the corridor that would enable Indian pilgrims to visit Sikh’s holy shrine Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan under a bilateral protocol.

Accusing Sidhu of betraying the people of Punjab and playing with their sentiments by claiming that Pak government had promised for opening the Kartarpur corridor, she asked the Congress national president Rahul Gandhi to tell what action he would take against Sidhu for this betrayal and “misusing Sikh sentiments on Kartarpur issue to hide his traitorous conduct”.

She also challenged him to show proof of clearance given by neighbouring country to open the passage.

“It is clear that Sidhu deliberately lied to the people and claimed he had received an assurance about opening of Kartarpur corridor from Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to ward off criticism for hugging the General.

In a frontal attack on Sidhu, she said: “If Sidhu is such close friends with Imran Khan as claimed by him, he should tell his friend to give a letter stating that he was ready to open the Kartarpur corridor and we will take up this issue with our government to get it ratified. He should also ask his friend to stop the killings on the international border and stop exporting terror to India.”

Harsimrat, addressing a press conference in New Delhi, said that an agreement to open the corridor was taken as part of a bilateral protocol with Pakistan but never followed by the latter.

“Punjab government, under Parkash Singh Badal, had passed a resolution to this effect in the Vidhan Sabha. A parliamentary delegation has also taken up this issue with the Pak government. The Shiromani Committee has been taking up this issue regularly and even now is in the process of visiting Pakistan along with the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) to pursue this demand,” she added.

Harsimrat alleged that Sidhu had even resorted to “mischievous conduct” on Monday “by using senior Congress leader MS Gill to take time from the External Affairs Minister and then tagging along with Gill to meet Swaraj.

“This is the reason Sushma ji snubbed Sidhu and asked him why he had misused the political clearance given to him to visit Pakistan to act in this irresponsible unpatriotic manner which had hurt the sentiments of people of the country. It is shameful that Sidhu even lied about the meeting with the External Affairs Minister to the media by claiming the Ministry would act on his request. The truth is that Swaraj refused to entertain him at all,” she said.

Sidhu, on his return from Pakistan the previous month, had claimed that Islamabad will open the corridor of Kartarpur Sahib on the occasion of 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, which will be celebrated in 2019.

Sidhu’s visit also drew criticism from different quarters after he hugged the Pakistani Army chief Bajwa at Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony.

Kartarpur route along the India-Pakistan border is around three kilometres away from Gurdaspur in Punjab, and if opened, will give Indian Sikh pilgrims direct access to the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan, where Guru Nanak breathed his last in 1539.

SWARAJ ASSURED ME TO WRITE TO PAK: SIDHU

Hours after Harsimrat’s claims, Sidhu on Tuesday claimed that the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had assured him that a draft was being prepared on Kartarpur passage and she would write a letter to the Pakistan government for opening of the corridor.

He also rubbished SAD leader’s claim that he was snubbed by External Affairs Minister on the Kartarpur corridor issue. “I would not do politics on the religious issue,” he said.

Sidhu said: “The appointment was taken in advance and the Minister said that the draft of the letter was ready and would soon be sent to Pakistan,” he clarified in a press conference at Chandigarh.

He said that former Union Minister MS Gill accompanied him on his request as he had been pursuing the issue for long.

In a separate letter sent to Swaraj, referring to the Pakistan government’s offer of opening the corridor, Sidhu said that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had held a meeting with all stakeholders and Sikh pilgrims’ yearning to visit Kartarpur Sahib would soon be fulfilled as they were ready to open the corridor.

He said that it was also reiterated by Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry through a tweet and a video interview to the BBC Punjabi on September 7. Chaudhry had said that Pakistan is willing to open the corridor and is waiting for India’s formal affirmation.

Sidhu said that he had requested Swaraj to send a formal request to the Pakistan government for an early agreement and opening of the Kartarpur Sahib passage immediately after the current monsoon session, and Swaraj’s assurance was in response to his letter.

He said, “I had written in my letter to Swaraj that ‘kindly send a formal request from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to Government of Pakistan requesting an early agreement and opening of the Kartarpur passage immediately after current monsoon season’.”

However, Swaraj had earlier stated that the Pakistani Government has, so far, neither agreed to include visits to Kartarpur Sahib by Indian pilgrims under bilateral protocol nor has sent any official communication for establishing the corridor.

SIDHU COUNTRY’S ‘BIGGEST TRAITOR’

SAD president Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday called Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu “biggest traitor” of the country demanding that cricketer-turned politician's call details be investigated “as he is in constant touch with Pakistanis”.

He accused Sidhu of only being interested in staying in the limelight by raising pious issues like Kartarpur Sahib corridor “without any seriousness”.

Sukhbir asserted that Sidhu was reprimanded by Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj for allegedly meddling in the Kartarpur Corridor issue.

“I feel Sidhu has relations with ISI (Pakistan's spy agency). His call details should be investigated by intelligence agencies as he is in constant touch with Pakistanis,” he alleged.