Sidhu gets visa to attend Imran’s oath taking ceremony

ISLAMABAD: India’s cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu will visit Islamabad to attend Imran Khan’s oath taking as the new prime minister of Pakistan ceremony on August 18.

Geo News reported on Monday that Sidhu has phoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Javed to inform him that he got Pakistan visa and would come to Islamabad on August 18.

Sidhu, a minister in the Indian Punjab government, said that he is very much eager to attend the oath taking ceremony which will take place at the President’s House on Saturday.

Imran Khan, the prime minister designate of Pakistan and chairman PTI, had invited Indian cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Navjot Sidhu to attend his swearing-in ceremony.

Sidhu was the first of these three Indian cricket personalities to accept the invitation extended by the PTI while Gavaskar has expressed his inability to accept the invitation as he is in England nowadays for covering the Indian cricket team’s Test series as commentator.

Gavaskar thanked Imran for extending an invitation to him for attending the special occasion.

However, Kapil Dev has not yet clarified whether he would be travelling to Pakistan to attend the ceremony.

Sidhu had earlier hailed Khan’s victory in the Pakistan general elections calling him “a man of character”.

“It is (a) great honour, I accept the invitation. Men of genius are admired, men of power are feared, but men of character are trusted. Khan Sahab is a man of character. He can be trusted. Sportsmen build bridges, break barriers, unite people,” said the 54-year-old Congress MLA from Amritsar East.

Earlier Indian media reported that Sidhu visited the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Monday to discuss formalities ahead of his visit to Pakistan.

Imran Khan’s PTI emerged as the single largest party with 116 seats in the 25 July election. However, the tally reached 158 members in the National Assembly after ther joining of nine independents and bagging 33 seats reserved for women and minorities. If the votes of the PTI and its allied parties are counted, the total comes to 184 in the house of 339. Thus, the party is in a position to easily form its government in the centre.