The Union External Affairs ministry has asked the Punjab government to put an immediate halt to the “Punjab-Punjab” bonhomie.
Foreign ministry communicates displeasure at the unilateral measures adopted
CHANDIGARH: The Union External Affairs ministry has asked the Punjab government to put an immediate halt to the “Punjab-Punjab (Pakistan)” bonhomie saying the Centre must be taken into confidence before any such step was taken unilaterally by the state government.
In a recent communication to the Punjab chief secretary KR Lakhanpal, the foreign ministry took exception to the visit of chief parliamentary secretary Rana Gurmeet Sodhi to Pakistan allegedly to finalise the programme for the proposed ‘Punjab-Punjab games’ later this year. The communication took a stern view of the fact that the foreign ministry was not duly informed about the visit.
The foreign ministry also referred to the proposed visit of Punjab Transport minister Mohinder Singh Kaypee in September last to explore the possibility of starting more buses to the Sikh shrines in Pakistan and said such confidence building measures (CBMs) undertaken unilaterally by the Punjab government must have “the sanction and approval of the foreign ministry”.
The foreign ministry has asked the chief secretary to restrain all other ministers as well in Punjab from undertaking any CBMs without proper sanction from the Centre.
The foreign ministry communication, coming in the backdrop of the Mumbai serial blasts in July, has thus practically derailed chief minister Amarinder Singh’s plans to exploit the Punjabi agenda in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. Amarinder enjoys good relations with his counterpart, Punjab (Pakistan) chief minister Pervaiz Ilahi, and both have been assiduously following the Punjabi agenda at political and social levels.
Besides the exchange of social and cultural groups between the Punjabs of India and Pakistan, many sports events have been also taking place.
The last sports competition had taken place in 2005 when Amarinder Singh’s Pakistani counterpart Parvez Ilahi paid a visit and presided over the World Punjabi conference in Patiala.
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