Hours after Punjab Home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa called for a probe into whether Captain Amarinder Singh’s Pakistani friend Aroosa Alam had links with the country’s notorious intelligence agency ISI, the former Punjab Chief Minister reminded Randhwa that Alam’s visa was cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for 16 years.
In a tweet on Friday (October 22) Raveen Thukral, the media advisor to Captain Singh quoted the former CM as saying, ” ‘As for who sponsored Aroosa’s visa, of course, I did, for 16 years. And FYI, Sukhjinder requests for such visas are sent by Indian HC to MEA, which gets them cleared by RAW & IB before approval. And that’s what happened, in this case, every time.” He further added, “A detailed inquiry was conducted in 2007, when I was no longer CM, by NSA on orders of then UPA PM before granting visa to Aroosa Alam. You still want to waste Punjab’s resources on this? I’ll help you with whatever you need”
‘What’s more @Sukhjinder_INC, a detailed inquiry was conducted in 2007, when I was no longer CM, by NSA on orders of then UPA PM before granting visa to Aroosa Alam. You still want to waste Punjab’s resources on this? I’ll help you with whatever you need’: @capt_amarinder 3/3
— Raveen Thukral (@RT_Media_Capt) October 22, 2021
Captain Amarinder also asked Sukhjinder Randhawa to first make up his mind about the probe instead of being ‘perturbed’ and ‘confused.’ “Why don’t you make up your mind on this so-called probe against Aroosa Alam?” he challenged. To add salt to the wounds, Thukral also shared a picture of Captain Amarinder Singh’s Pakistani friend with Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi.
Just by the way. (File photo). @Sukhjinder_INC @INCPunjab @CHARANJITCHANNI @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/NxrrZZT4ic
— Raveen Thukral (@RT_Media_Capt) October 22, 2021
Full statement of Captain Amarinder Singh on Punjab HM wanting to probe Aroosa Alam
‘So now you’re resorting to personal attacks @Sukhjinder_INC. 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. You were a minister in my cabinet @Sukhjinder_INC. Never heard you complain about Aroosa Alam. And she’d been coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances. Or are you alleging that both NDA and @INCIndia led UPA govts in this period connived with Pak ISI?. What I’m worried about @Sukhjinder_INC is that 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.
What the HM of Punjab said about investigating Aroosa Alam
Following the acrimonious fallout between former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the Congress party, Punjab Home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa called for a probe into whether Amarinder Singh’s Pakistani friend Aroosa Alam has links with the country’s notorious intelligence agency ISI.
“Since Captain claims Punjab is facing a threat from the ISI, we will be probing the relation of his friend Aroosa Alam with the ISI,” Randhawa told NDTV in an interview. Alam is a defence journalist and is widely regarded as a close friend of Captain Amarinder Singh.
Randhawa said he has asked the Punjab police chief to probe the allegations of Alam’s link with Pakistan’s military officers and the ISI.
“Captain has been harping on 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,” Randhawa said.
Captain Amarinder Singh and his connection with a Pakistani journalist
Not many people know but there have been reports about that a Pakistani friend of Capt Amarinder who is a regular at his Chandigarh house. Aroosa Alam shares a close relationship with him and had also attended his swearing-in ceremony in 2017. She was also present at the launch of Captain Amarinder Singh’s biography ‘The People’s Maharaja’ in February 2020.
The duo has manifestly been low-key about their lesser-known ‘affair’ and has often shied away from talking about it in public. Notably, Alam is a former Pakistani defence journalist and was known in Pakistani circles for having close ties with the military establishment. Alam is the daughter of Akleen Akhtar, also known as the famous General Rani, a socialite who was described by the Pakistani media as the “muse and mistress” of Pakistani leader Yahya Khan. “My relationship is a sensitive issue even back home, I am a Muslim woman, and you know how people back home think,” said Aroosa in February 2018 when she was in Chandigarh
