Chandigarh: One of the advisors of Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, Malwinder Singh Mali, has sparked a fresh row by calling Kashmir a separate country saying India and Pakistan are both illegal occupants of Kashmir. “Kashmir is a separate country and India and Pakistan are illegal occupants. It belongs to the people of Kashmir,” Mali said in a tweet on Wednesday. Mali received heavy backlash for his tweet, including from within the Congress party.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Majithia said Mali’s statement was an attempt to insult martyrs who sacrificed their lives fighting for India in Kashmir.
“He said that Kashmir is the country of Kashmiris, which means Kashmir is a separate country. He also said that India and Pakistan have illegally encroached upon Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi, is this not an insult to martyrs?” Bikram Majithia said.
Raking up an old controversy of Sidhu, Bikram Majithia said, “While Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has been accusing Pakistan of disturbing the peace in Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu is hugging Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.”
Meanwhile, the BJP also hit out at the Mali for his tweet on Kashmir and demanded action against him. “Many Army and allied forces personnel, besides the Jammu and Kashmir police, have sacrificed their lives to save Kashmir from Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. A number of martyrs belong to Punjab. Mali is trying to shrink the supreme sacrifices made by these martyrs,” BJP leader Vineet Joshi said.
Joshi slammed Sidhu for Mali’s tweet and called him an “unstable politician”. “BJP gave him a political identity. His wife was given a party ticket and then he switched his loyalties and joined Congress. The infighting within the Punjab Congress unit is the outcome of the unfulfilled political ambitions of Navjot Sidhu. He can go to any length and now he is trying to sprinkle salt on the wounds of martyrs’ families,” he added.