Captain Amarinder’s Pak friend caught in Punjab political crossfire

CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh on Friday asked deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa why he didn’t complain about his Pakistani friend Aroosa Alam while he was a minister when Amarinder was the CM and that she has been coming to India for 16 years with clearance by the Centre.
Amarinder was responding to a personal attack by Randhawa who gave a statement in Jalandhar on Thursday that he would ask the DGP to probe Amarinder’s link with the Pakistan-based ISI, established through his friend and Pakistani defence journalist Aroosa who used to live in his residence in Chandigarh.
Since Amarinder has now said that there was a threat to Punjab and the country from the ISI, the state government would get Amarinder’s ISI link, Randhawa had said.
On Friday, Raveen Thukral, media adviser to Amarinder Singh, tweeted on behalf of the former CM: “So now you’re resorting to personal attacks @Sukhjinder_INC. One month after taking over this is all you have to show to people. What happened to your tall promises on Bargari & drugs cases? Punjab is still waiting for your promised action.”
“You were a minister in my cabinet @Sukhjinder_INC. Never heard you complain about Aroosa Alam. And she’d been coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances. Or are you alleging that both NDA and @INCIndia led govts in this period connived with Pak ISI?” Thukral tweeted.
In a series of tweets, Thukral wrote: “As for who sponsored Aroosa’s visa, of course I did, for 16 years. And, FYI, @Sukhjinder_INC, requests for such visas are sent by Indian HC to @MEAIndia, which gets them cleared by RAW and IB before approving...”
In an attempt to advise Randhawa, Amarinder said, “What I’m worried about @Sukhjinder_INC is that instead of focusing on maintain law & order at a time when terror threat is high and festivals are around the corner, you’ve put @DGPPunjabPolice on a baseless investigation at the cost of Punjab’s safety.”
Randhawa hit back with a tweet: “By the way, sir @capt_amarinder why are you so perturbed over the probe on Aroosa and ISI links? Who sponsored her visa and everything concerning her will be thoroughly probed.”