Hidden agenda behind Pak video featuring separatists: Amarinder

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday responded to the video of a song Pakistan released two days back to welcome Sikh pilgrims to Kartarpur that featured slain Khalistani separatists including the infamous Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and said it only proved his theory that the country has a hidden agenda involving the Kartarpur corridor.

Pakistan’s information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan released the video five days before the inauguration of the corridor that will provide Indian pilgrims visa-free access to the gurdwara at Kartarpur where Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak spent his final years.

The video released by Pakistan features pictures of Bhindranwale, Shabeg Singh, and Amrik Singh Khalsa, who were killed when the army stormed Amritsar’s Golden Temple to take out militants holed up there in 1984.

“All this is what I have been warning about since day one... Pakistan has a hidden agenda here. Pakistan, on one side, is showing love, but on the other... [is trying] to foment trouble. We have to be very careful of its intentions,” Singh said in response to the video.

The insurgency in Punjab for Khalistan peaked in the 1980s before it fizzled out in the 1990s.

Speaking at the launch of the video in Islamabad, Awan had said the Kartarpur Corridor’s opening reflected Pakistan PM ’s vision for religious freedom for all minorities in Pakistan.

Responding to the statement, Punjab BJP chief and Rajya Sabha member Shwait Maliksaid, “Pakistan is indulging in mischievous acts...religious harmony should be upheld .”