AMRITSAR
: The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) and its parent body Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) have credited the opening of
Kartarpur corridor to
Imran-Sidhu friendship
.
During the arrival of first Indian jatha at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib via Kartarpur Corridor, sources said many people were holding placards welcoming Punjab MLA
Navjot Singh Sidhu. In one such photograph, a senior SAD leader is seen standing with a young boy who is holding a placard inscribed ‘Welcome Uncle Sidhu’.
It was during the visit of former cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu to Pakistan to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Khan as the Prime Minister when Pakistan army chief Gen
Qamar Javed Bajwa
offered him opening of Kartarpur corridor ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. “It was the meeting of Sidhu with our PM and the army chief that triggered the Kartarpur Corridor demand and expedited its completion. Today it has materialised,” said PSGPC president Satwant Singh while talking to TOI over phone from Kartarpur Sahib.
ETPB member Syed Zia-ul-Noor said, “This was the most significant day for both Sikhs and people of Pakistan. They wanted the corridor to happen and we showered everything upon them we had.” He further said both Imran and Sidhu had played a key role in not only reviving the old pending demand of Sikhs but also taking it to a logical conclusion.
Heaping praise upon both Imran and Sidhu, former president of PSGPC Bishan Singh said whenever history would be written, names of both Imran and Sidhu would be written in golden words. “The demand of opening of corridor from the Indian Sikhs was there since the Partition but both Imran and Navjot gave it a push that it has materialised now,” said Bishan.
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