Cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday announced his travel to Pakistan as a “goodwill ambassador” to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister-designate Imran Khan.
Speaking to reporters from the Attari-Wagah border, Sidhu said he is going to Pakistan with the hope that relations between India and Pakistan will improve. He said, “I am going to Pakistan as a goodwill ambassador. I am going there with the hope that relations between our two nations will improve.” The swearing-in ceremony will take place on Saturday (August 18).
Earlier this month, Khan had invited Sidhu for his oath-taking ceremony. “I have applied for government permission. Everything depends on Indian government now,” Sidhu had said after exiting the Pakistan High Commission on Agust 13.
Sidhu had earlier said that he had informed the Union Home Ministry and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s office regarding his intention to attend Khan’s oath-taking ceremony on August 18. “The Secretariat of the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has invited me to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan on August 18 at Islamabad,” Sidhu said.
“The chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Imran Khan, who is going to be sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has sent an invitation to former cricketer and Cabinet Minister, Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu to his swearing-in ceremony. Apart from this, Khan also extended a personal invitation to Sidhu on the phone which was accepted in all humility by the latter,” the Punjab government had said.
