NEW DELHI: Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal urged Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to take actions his foreign minister Mahmood Shah Qureshi for his ‘Kartarpur googly’ remark.
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that Imran Khan’s “Kartarpur googly” had forced India to send two ministers to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Kartarpur corridor.
On Sunday Badal tweeted at the Pakistan PM saying, “I urge Pak PM @ImranKhanPTI to take action against his minister for hurting sentiments of Sikhs and peace efforts by equating attendance at a function at Sri Kartarpur Sahib with trapping India by bowling a googly. Nothing can be more disgusting than this.”
“No one should be allowed to play with religious sentiments. Your commitment to peace shouldn’t be a hollow promise. Please walk the talk & take action against Mehmood Qureshi for the politicising religious issue to assuage hurt feelings of Sikhs,” she wrote.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had on Saturday come down hard on Qureshi for his “googly” remark, saying it “exposed” him and that Pakistan had no respect for Sikh sentiments.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who completed 100 days in office, on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the Kartarpur Corridor linking two revered gurdwaras on both sides of the border in Kartarpur in Punjab province. Union ministers from India, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri, along with Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, attended the event in Pakistan Punjab province’s Narowal area. On Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi had said Prime Minister Khan bowled a “googly” to ensure Indian government’s presence at the groundbreaking ceremony of the landmark Kartarpur Corridor.
Qureshi’s remarks came a day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj categorically ruled out the possibility of resumption of bilateral talks with Pakistan unless it stops cross-border terror activities against India.
However, Pakistan on Saturday said the Kartarpur corridor initiative was taken solely to fulfil the longstanding wishes of “our Sikh brethren” and criticised the “negative propaganda campaign” against the historic move.