Shehbaz Sharif and Captain Amarinder Singh
Pakistani Punjab’s CM seeks cooperation of Captain Amarinder in tackling smog
Chandigarh, November 21, 2017: The Chief Minister of Pakistani Punjab Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif has written a letter to his counterpart in the Indian Punjab Captain Amarinder seeking his cooperation in tackling the growing menace of smog in particular and environmental pollution in general affecting life on both sides of the border.
The letter dated November 19 was tweeted by the Government of Punjab (Pakistan), also tagging Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal apparently to involve him as well in prospective joint strategy given the extent of health hazard posed by the monstrous phenomenon of smog that threatened life in the national capital region particularly New Delhi.
The necessity for cooperation has apparently arisen due to geographical contiguity between both Punjabs which makes both territories sharing same climatic zone vulnerable to any natural phenomenon rather simultaneously.
Interestingly, Captain Amarinder publicly spurned the similar invite twice that too via similar Twitter mode extended by Kejriwal to tackle smog in the region comprising Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. It is quite interesting to note that Captain Amarinder's has not reacted as disdainfully to the overture made this time on the same issue by the head of a state across the international border.
As reported by The Indian Express, Captain’s media advisor Raveen Thukral has, in an early sign of a favourable response to the tweet by the Pakistani CM, said, “Amarinder Singh is extremely concerned about the issue and is actively pursuing it with the Indian government. He expects early resolution of the matter. He is, however, yet to receive the letter from Shehbaz Sharif and will reply to it at a suitable time.”
Exactly when a common ground is prepared for a meeting between both CMs on the issue will be known only after Captain Amarinder Singh receives a formal letter from Shehbaz Sharif and formulates his response to it. Let’s wait for the next move.
The copy of the letter tweeted by Shehbaz’s government: