ISLAMABAD: Indian cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday hoped that Imran Khan’s accession to the Prime Minister’s post will be good for Pakistan-India peace progress. Sidhu was among the special guests present at Imran’s oath-taking ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (the President House) in Islamabad yesterday. Imran, who famously captained the national cricket team to World Cup glory in 1992, had invited some of his former teammates and friends to witness his formal accession to the top ministerial job in the country. Talking to media, Sidhu used his usual poetic expression to praise Imran. “A new morning is here in Pakistan with a new government which can change the destiny of the country,” said Sidhu, a minister in the Congress government in Punjab.
He hoped that Imran’s victory will be good for the Pakistan-India peace process. Sidhu arrived in Lahore Friday via the Wagah border. He travelled from Lahore to Islamabad to attend the ceremony. Welcoming the change in Pakistan’s democracy with the election of Imran as Prime Minister, Sidhu on his arrival in Pakistan said Imran should come forward in the peace initiative between the two neighbours. He said he has brought “a message of love” to Pakistan as a goodwill ambassador of India. “I have come here not as a politician but as a friend. I have come here to take part in the happiness of my friend Imran,” he had said, adding sportsmen and artistes to help bring people of the two sides closer. Talking about the qualities of Imran, the former cricketer said: “I have seen Imran converting his weaknesses into his strength. I wish Imran becomes a symbol of prosperity for his country.” Replying to a query on the gift he has brought for the former Pakistan Test captain, Sidhu said: “I have brought a Kashmiri shawl for Khan sahib.” Former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev whom Imran had invited on his swearing-in had declined the invitation citing personal engagements.
Published in Daily Times, August 19th 2018.