In the continuing exchange of barbs between former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the Congress party, Punjab Home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa on Friday, 22 October, called for an investigation into Amarinder Singh's friend Aroosa Alam, a Pakistani journalist, to find out whether she has links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Meanwhile, responding to Randhawa's comment, Raveen Thukral, the media adviser to Amarinder Singh posted a picture showing Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Alam shaking hands, writing along with it, “Just by the way."
WHAT DID RANDHAWA SAY?
On being asked about the photos and videos of Alam, a defence journalist, with Pakistani military officers, Randhawa was quoted as saying, "The Captain is saying that Punjab faces a threat from the ISI. So, we will also probe the relation of Aroosa Alam with ISI,” NDTV reported.
Having asked the Punjab police chief to investigate the allegations, Randhawa was further quoted as saying, “Captain Amarinder Singh kept raising the issue of drones coming over from Pakistan for the last four-and-a-half years. So, Captain (sahab) first raised this issue and later got BSF deployed in Punjab. So it seems a big plot which needs to be probed.”
WHAT DID AMARINDER SAY?
In tweets that Thukral posted on behalf of Singh, the former Punjab CM said that Aroosa had been “coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances”, and asked “Or are you alleging that both NDA and @INCIndia led UPA govts in this period connived with Pak ISI?”
Amarinder further said he had sponsored Aroosa’s visa for 16 years, requests for which were sent by the Indian High Commission to the Ministry of External Affairs, “which gets them cleared by RAW & IB before approving”
“One month after taking over this is all you have to show to the people. What happened to your tall promises on Bargari & drugs cases? Punjab is still waiting for your promised action,” Singh said.
He also accused Randhawa of resorting to personal attacks and wrote, "Instead of focusing on maintaining law & order at a time when terror threat is high and festivals are around the corner, you’ve put @DGPPunjabPolice on a baseless investigation at the cost of Punjab’s safety."
This comes just days after Amarinder Singh announced his plans to float his own party, hoping for a seat-sharing arrangement with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), provided the farmers’ protest is resolved before the polls.
Alam had met Amarinder Singh during his Pakistan visit in 2004 and apart from having attended his oath ceremony, is reportedly also a regular visitor to his home, NDTV reported.
Her name had earlier appeared when Singh questioned Navjot Sidhu for attending Imran Khan's oath ceremony in 2018.
(With inputs from NDTV)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)