New Delhi: After having written three letters to the Ministry of External Affairs, Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday got political clearance by the government to take part in the Kartarpur corridor inauguration ceremony on the Pakistani side on Saturday.
Sidhu had sought permission of the external affairs ministry to attend the event following an invitation by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“Political clearance has been granted to Sidhu to travel through the Kartarpur Sahib corridor on November 9,” the sources said.
Pakistan had said on Thursday that it has issued a visa to Sidhu to attend the inauguration on November 9.
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It is the Pakistan government which invited Sidhu – who had also attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor – to attend Saturday’s inauguration.
Permission from the external affairs ministry had not exactly been forthcoming. Sidhu had written thrice to the ministry, finally saying that he was ready to travel like “any other pilgrim” to the Kartarpur Sahib. When asked for clarity on permission to Sidhu, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said, “I feel the event on November 9 is a very big event and it would not do justice to that event to highlight just one individual.”
Sidhu had come under fire from the opposition after he had hugged Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa during the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan in August last year.
Sidhu had then claimed that General Bajwa had told him about “efforts to open the Kartarpur corridor”.
On November 4, he had received an invitation from Khan bearing the serial number ‘0001’ on an invitation card for the inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor.
(With PTI inputs)