Newly elected Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu is an ambassador of peace and expressed his gratitude for visiting Islamabad on his oath-taking ceremony.
"I want to thank Sidhu for coming to Pak for my oath taking. He was an ambassador of peace and was given amazing love and affection by people of Pakistan. Those in India who targeted him are doing a great disservice to peace in the subcontinent... without peace our people can't progress, said Khan.
His statement came soon after Sidhu held a press conference clarifying that his decision to visit Pakistan was not "political" but just on a "warm invitation from a friend".
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"To move forward, Pakistan and India must dialogue and resolve their conflicts, including Kashmir. The best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent is to resolve our differences through dialogue and start trading," tweeted Khan.
Sidhu has been slammed by the opposition and earned displeasure even from his own chief minister for hugging the Pakistan Army chief. The cricketer-turned-politician said he hugged General Qamar Javed Bajwa in an "emotional" moment after the army chief told him that Pakistan was making efforts to open the corridor from India's Dera Baba Nanak to Sikh shrine of Kartarpur Sahib.
Sidhu attended the swearing-in ceremony of Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in Islamabad on August 18.
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(With PTI inputs)
