Kartarpur corridor General Bajwa's brainchild, claims top Pakistan minister

Contradicting the claim of the Imran Khan government, a top Pakistani minister said on Saturday that the Kartarpur Corridor was the brainchild of Pakistan army chief and its opening would "hit India" forever.
 
"India will remember forever the kind of wound inflicted on it by General Qamar Javed Bajwa by opening Kartarpur corridor," Pakistan's Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid said. He added that through this project Pakistan has created a new environment of peace and won the love of the Sikh community.     

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had earlier claimed that the Kartarpur Corridor was the initiative of Pakistan PM Imran Khan. 

Imran Khan inaugurated the 4.7-km-long corridor which connects Pakistan's Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak Shrine in India's Gurdaspur on November 9, marking the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

The religious shrine has great significance for the Sikh community as Guru Nanak Dev spent his last days in Kartarpur's Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. The inauguration of the corridor came amid the straining ties between neighbours India and Pakistan due to Pulwama terror attack and abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.     

On General Bajwa's extension, the railway minister said that Imran Khan government has three more years and Bajwa also got an extension of three years, not six months, which indirectly suggested that the army chief will back the Pakistan government.

Rashid, who is known for his controversial statements, had earlier said in August when India abrogated Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir that there will be a full-blown war between India and Pakistan in the next two months. The railways minister had also been ridiculed in social media for his remarks in the past. The netizens trolled Rashid when he had said that Pakistan possessed "125-250 gram atom bombs" that may hit a targeted area in India.

(with inputs from agencies)