Sidhu hugging Pak army chief has impacted Indian soldiers: Defence minister

New Delhi, Sep 18: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday (Sep 18) that Navjot Singh Sidhu's gesture of hugging Pakistan's army chief impacted soldiers back home and asserted that the Punjab minister could have "avoided it".

Cricketer-turned politician Sidhu had courted controversy by hugging Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during his visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in of Imran Khan as Prime Minister. He had claimed that he did so as Bajwa told him that the Pakistan government was working for opening of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims from Indian state of Punjab.

Also read: Pak visit: War of words between Navjot Singh Sidhu and Harsimrat Kaur Badal

"Sidhu has a lot of admirers...somebody of that stature going there and then hugging the chief of the army, an army about which in India we have very clear feelings, it certainly has an impact on soldiers..., it demoralises the people. I wish Sidhu would have avoided it (hug)," she said during an interaction at the Indian Women's Press Corp (IWPC).

PTI