Punjab Assembly invites Indian Punjab CM to visit Lahore

LAHORE – In an apparent move to normalise relations with India by promoting cultural ties between the two countries, Indian Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has been extended a second invitation to visit Lahore in November to attend a Punjabi Conference, this time from the floor of the Punjab Assembly, after the event’s organisers had already invited him to participate. The fresh invitation was extended by Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Ramesh Singh Arora while speaking in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday. It follows Mr Mann’s recent statement expressing a desire to visit Pakistan for the conference while voicing uncertainty over whether the Indian federal government would allow him to travel to the neighbouring country. “They don’t even allow me to visit France or Germany; how would they allow me to visit Pakistan?” he had remarked. “Pakistan is waiting for you. We will welcome you with open hearts and smiling faces,” Ramesh Singh Arora said, inviting Mr Mann to attend the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore on behalf of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. He also invited the Speaker of the Indian Punjab Assembly to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, expressing the hope that elected representatives from both sides, including members of the opposition, would participate in the conference and celebrate their shared linguistic and cultural heritage. “Lahore is yours. Come and be part of this gathering,” the minister said, welcoming the prospect of greater cultural engagement between the two Punjabs. He also urged the Indian government to allow Sikh pilgrims to visit Pakistan through the Kartarpur Corridor without restrictions. Mr Arora said the Sikh community across the world wished to visit Pakistan and considered it their first home. He questioned why the Indian government was restricting Sikh pilgrims from visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur despite the corridor having been established to facilitate their religious visits. Under an agreement between Pakistan and India, around 5,000 Sikh pilgrims had been allowed to visit Kartarpur, but the Indian government had reduced the number to 500, he said, urging New Delhi to lift restrictions on the community’s religious visits. The minister also expressed solidarity with the people of Indian IOccupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK), assuring them that Pakistan stood by them in their struggle for the right to self-determination. Meanwhile, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution marking October 27 as Kashmir Black Day, condemning India’s occupation of Kashmir and calling for a just settlement of the dispute in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions. 

The resolution, moved by Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, described October 27 as a black day for the Kashmiri people, as India had occupied Kashmir on that date. It expressed serious concern over reports of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the Indian occupied Kashmir. The House also scheduled a general discussion for Tuesday on water reservoirs, dams and rainwater collection and storage. The sitting, scheduled for 11am, began two hours and four minutes late under Panel of Chairpersons member Samiullah Khan. Proceedings were adjourned until 11:30am on Tuesday after opposition member Hassan Malik pointed out a lack of quorum. The required attendance could not be secured despite the chair ordering the bells to be rung for five minutes, marking the second consecutive day the government had failed to maintain quorum.