Amarinder Singh Declines Pakistan’s Invite To Kartarpur Sahib, Cites Killing Of Indian Soldiers And Punjab Terror Attack 

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has declined the invite to foundation laying ceremony of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor between India and Pakistan due to continued killings of Indian soldiers and terror attacks from across the border, Indian Express has reported.

“Not a day passes when Indian soldiers are not killed or wounded on the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir. Rather than moving towards normalcy these incidents are escalating,” the Punjab Chief Minister said in his letter.

Since March 2017 (when the Congress government was sworn in Punjab), Amarinder added that the state had neutralized 19 Inter-services intelligence (ISI) armed and controlled modules. Punjab had also caught 81 terrorists and recovered 79 weapons, in addition to grenades of the HG 84 type made in Pakistan’s Ordnance factories.

Further, he cited a recent terror attack in Amritsar where three were killed and 19 were wounded by the attack. He added that his dream of paying respects at Kartarpur Sahib would be fulfilled once the hostilities and killings stop.

The Minister for Food Processing and Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri will be attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan.

The invite to the groundbreaking ceremony was extended to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh. Swaraj wrote back to Mahmood Qureshi and thanked him for this gesture. Swaraj, however, didn’t accept the invitation to the ceremony due to prior commitments.