A lot of controversies have been taking place regarding Navjot Singh Sidhu, attending the oath-taking ceremony of former cricketer Imran Khan, who was sworn in as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan on 18th August. Sidhu would never have thought that this was going to be such a nightmare for him. When he came back from Pakistan, he was drastically criticised by the Bhartiya Janata Party. The party spokesperson said that he ‘hugged’ Pakistan Army General Qamar Javed Bajwa and that makes him a ‘traitor’! The party spokesperson further suggested that Sidhu should not have played with the emotions of the people of India.
After much criticism around the country, the newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, defended him and called Sidhu ‘an angel of peace’ and said that he should not be crticised. Sidhu has been facing innumerable criticism and trolling by the Indian media. Nowadays, even if the media seems to have controlled our thought process, we must think independently about what is right or wrong, and about how to get rid of all the misconceptions among us. We must mitigate our hatred and develop a sense of affection towards each other.
Sidhu has also defended himself and exposed those who have been criticising him. He asked his critics, why we exchange sweets on Independence Day and why do our soldiers meet and shake hands with each other at all? This argument seems very logical to me as Sidhu had only hugged Bajwa, who is also a part of Pakistan Army. The person who shakes hand with the BSF is also from the Pakistan Army, then why this paradox? If we don’t like anyone from the Pakistan Army then we should not be cordial with them at any occasion.
Bajwa also told Sidhu that Pakistan will consider opening the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib for the Sikh pilgrims on the eve of Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary. For me, this is a great proposal to maintain peace and harmony between the two nations. The only way to promote harmony and peace is through discourse, unless both the nations talk, we won’t be able to achieve peace.
Our former Prime Minister, Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee once said, “We can change our friends but we can’t change our neighbors”. His thinking was great, as he knew that only bilateral talk could establish peace and prosperity for both the nations. It is imperative for the two countries to have a dialogue to maintain peace. It needs to be done every three months or any other time frame; so that at least our forthcoming generation can live in peace and security. We all want to stimulate our economic growth, this could be achieved by promoting trade between the two countries.