Amid the increasing animosity on both sides of the border after Uri, singer Sukhwinder Singh recently visited the Wagah Border and entertained the jawans there with his songs. “It was a personal visit – I went with Ajay Devgn. The Army band was playing and I joined them. I could see the Pakistani officers from the gate saying ‘Namaste’ and ‘Sat Sri Akal’,” he recalls. Their gesture touched him, he says.
Sukhwinder, who has sung patriotic songs like ‘Chak De! India’ and ‘Jai Ho’, says he feels that Indo-Pak relations have been souring for a long time now, and that Uri was another chapter in a long story. About the IMPPA banning Pakistani artists, he says, “If they come to India, I will be the first one to welcome them, but on one condition – they must condemn such attacks. Main nahin kehta sadak pe tamasha karo, par ek aah toh bhar sakte ho. After the Peshawar school massacre, they condemned those attacks and we, the Indian artists, joined them. Aap ek line toh keh sakte ho. They were approached by Indian friends and were advised to at least give a message about friendship and brotherhood and say that the attacks were wrong. If they can’t say that, they must leave.”