Navjot Singh Sidhu, on whom Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had showered praises yesterday at the Kartarpur event, landed in a fresh controversy today after pro-Khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawla posted a photograph of himself on Facebook with the Congress leader.

Chawla’s post comes barely hours after Pakistan clarified army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa’s greeting of pro-Khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawla on the sidelines of the Kartarpur corridor groundbreaking ceremony.

In the Facebook post captioned “with sedu pa g” (my brother), Sidhu can be seen standing beside Chawla on the sidelines of the ceremony at Kartarpur.

Chawla is known as one of the main propagators of the Sikh movement seeking a separate homeland for the community.

Sidhu’s photograph with Chawla went viral early on Thursday morning, with people calling him out for having met a terrorist.

Chawla is reported to be the general secretary of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. His name had cropped up in the investigations into the grenade attack on the Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar in which three were killed.

Chawla is also reported to have prevented Indian diplomats from visiting a gurdwara in Lahore.

First Published: Nov 29, 2018 10:36 IST