SAD lambasts Sidhu for insulting martyr families by hugging Pak army chief

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday assailed Congress minister Navjot Sidhu for insulting martyr families by hugging Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa at the swearing in ceremony of Imran Khan as Pakistan Prime Minister.

In a statement here, SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said Sidhu's conduct was unbecoming of a cabinet minister. “His public gestures have not only hurt martyr families but also countrymen in general”.

Cheema said the very visit of Sidhu to Pakistan at a time when the nation was in mourning was in bad taste. “Sidhu went ahead with the visit and violated all known protocols of not attending any celebratory function during official periods of mourning”.

The Akali leader said while Sidhu had let down his country as well as countrymen, now it was up to Congress president Rahul Gandhi to answer why he had allowed Sidhu to make such a spectacle of himself.

Dr Cheema said Sidhu had also fallen into the Pakistan trap of lending authenticity to its claim on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir by sitting cheek by jowl with POK premier Masood Khan at the swearing in ceremony. He said Sidhu, who was more interested in garnering cheap publicity for himself during his Pak visit by resorting to empty filibustering, had failed to recognize the sinister conspiracy hatched by Pakistan to use him to lend credibility to its claim over POK.