Lahore: The bejewelled Hazoori bagh, a rectangular Mughal-style garden linking Lahore fort and Badsahahi mosque and showcasing Ranjit Singh’s marble pavilion, glowed under the night sky on Tuesday. The fortified ramparts resounded with dastangoi and ghazals as Pakistan’s provincial government of Punjab hosted Indian guests ahead of the ground-breaking ceremony for the Kartarpur Sahib corridor.
But, none attracted more eye-balls than cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Besides the Indian high commissioner Ajay Bisaria, Sidhu was the only Indian functionary at the event organised by the conspicuously austere Pakistan government in its efforts to win the battle of perception over the corridor project.
The two Indian ministers, Harsimrat Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri were travelling directly from Wagah to the venue at Kartarpur on November 28 – and would return by road immediately after the conclusion of the event. India nominated two Sikh union ministers after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj declined the invitation due to “prior commitments”.
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On November 22, Pakistan had for the first time given a diplomatic note to India on the Kartarpur Sahib project, even as the Indian cabinet approved construction of the Indian leg of the corridor on the same day. The project is proposed to be completed to mark the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak in November 2019.
The top priority accorded to the project was evident by the red carpet unfurled by the Pakistan government, both at the federal and provincial level. Pakistan foreign minister S.M. Qureshi skipped the Afghan peace conference in Geneva for the ground-breaking ceremony, for which invitations had gone out to Islamabad’s entire diplomatic corps.
Sidhu’s presence in Pakistan was an example of how India has to be deal with conflicting strands over the corridor project – concerned not only about diplomatic showmanship, but also political dynamics at the state level.
Navjot Singh Sidhu speaking at the dinner hosted by Punjab Chief minister at Hazoor Bagh along the ramparts of Lahore fort. Credit: Shome Basu
Last time Sidhu was in Pakistan, he was told by the Pakistani army chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa that Islamabad was ready to approve the long-pending demand for a cross-border corridor for pilgrims to Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara.
Sidhu’s return to India was greeted over a raging political controversy over his quick hug with Bajwa at the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan. One of his most trenchant political critics is Badal, who would now be sharing a dais with him at Kartarpur.
Three months later, Sidhu was back in Pakistan on a triumphant note. He is only a minister in a state government, but the protocol accorded during his ‘personal’ visit was much higher.
He told the chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Sardar Usman Buzdar, that he was back in Pakistan to remove the “misgivings” in India about Pakistan.
Sidhu was in Pakistan despite the disapproval of his senior colleague, chief minister Amarinder Singh, who himself turned down the invitation from the Pakistan government. “I have come here to express my shukrana (gratitude),” he said.
He spoke about united Punjab being the “shield” which had protected the sub-continent against invaders, like Ahmed Shah Abdali, for centuries.
“I have a dream”
The master of ceremonies had earlier effusively compared Sidhu to Martin Luther King.
An inspired Sidhu said in his short speech, “I have a dream”. The ‘dream’, he said, was for open connectivity across the region, where the Punjab Mail chugs along freely from Amritsar, Lahore and even to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
“The ice is melting,” Sidhu announced.
He described the Kartarpur Sahib proposal as “not just a corridor”, but an opportunity for “infinite possibilities”.
“Did anyone think of this project being approved within three months? This is the miracle of Baba Nanak,” said Sidhu, as Lahore fort’s Roshnia gate loomed behind him.
He declared that if there were more exchanges between the two Punjabs, there would be unprecedented development “within six months”.
For India and Pakistan, he said, “the only solution is talks”. “We have to sit across the table… We have got not anything from war”.
Sidhu, of course, expressed the most praise for Imran Khan in his characteristic way. “All men have eyes, but only few have vision”.
Pakistan’s Punjab chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar welcomes Navjot Singh Sidhu. Punjab governor Mohammad Sarwar is also seen in the background. Credit: Shome Basu
A very important chapter
Pakistan’s federal information minister Fawad Chaudhury said that both countries can discuss all issues from Kashmir to terrorism and Siachen “openly”.
The launching of the Kartarpur project is a “very important chapter” in the tumultuous relationship between the two neighbours, he added.
Just like other Pakistani officials, Chaudhury also underlined the political capital invested by Imran Khan in this project, who was apparently personally supervising the entire launch events.
Also Read: Nankana Sahib: After India Lodges Protest with Pak, Consular Access to Pilgrims Barred Again
Despite the austerity drive by his government, the information minister pointed out that no stones had been left unturned to provide a suitable platform for the launch.
There is still no clarity yet on the modalities of the corridor, though Chaudhury suggested that it could be a barbed-wire, u-shaped route to funnel pilgrims from India to Pakistan.
On India’s proposal for the corridor to be open round the clock rather than on special occasions, he said that it “could be considered”.
