Indian Punjab Cabinet Minister and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu said on Thursday he would attend Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony as the Prime Minister of Pakistan and described the Pakistani World Cup-winning captain as a man of character who “can be trusted”, reported Hindustan Times.
Sidhu also described Imran as “a ray of hope”.
He went on to describe the invitation to attend the oath-taking ceremony as a “huge honour”.
Earlier, Sidhu had said that sportsmen build bridges to unite people.
“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,” Sidhu had said in a statement.
Sidhu was among those who had reportedly been invited by Khan to attend his oath-taking ceremony. Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged as the single-largest party in the National Assembly after the general election on July 25.
PTI won 115 of the 269 seats in the National Assembly for which elections were held. The party fell 12 short of the 137 seats it needed to form a government on its own.
Earlier on Wednesday, a PTI spokesperson said that the party plans to invite former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Navjot Sidhu and Bollywood star Aamir Khan to Imran Khan swearing-in ceremony.
Khan had said he would take oath as Pakistan’s Prime Minister on August 11.