NEW DELHI – Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that NavjotSingh Sidhu’s gesture of hugging Pakistan’s army chief “impacted soldiersback home” and asserted that he could have “avoided it”, *HindustanTimes* reportedon Tuesday.
Cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu had courted controversy in India byhugging Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa during hisvisit to Pakistan for the swearing-in of Imran Khan as prime minister.
He had claimed that he did so as Gen Bajwa told him that the Pakistanigovernment was working to open the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrimsfrom Indian Punjab.
