'Sidhu, his wife are hyenas': Pakistani journalist linked to Amarinder

 Ever since captain Amarinder Singh resigned as chief minister of Punjab in September, his relationship with a Pakistani journalist has re-emerged as a talking point in politics. His rivals had claimed Aroosa Alam, a defence journalist, had links to the ISI.

Amarinder's ties to Aroosa had invited scrutiny over a decade ago, during his first stint as chief minister.

On Tuesday, The Indian Express published an interview with Aroosa, in which she lashed out at Congress politicians who had accused her of having ties with the ISI.

Speaking from Pakistan, Aroosa told The Indian Express that she was “extremely disappointed and disgusted with Punjab Congress politicians” and would never come back to India. She targeted Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, both of whom are bitter rivals of Amarinder.

Last week, Randhawa said Aroosa's alleged ties to the ISI would be probed. On Saturday, Sidhu's wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, also targeted Aroosa, as she alleged no government postings took place in Punjab in Amarinder's government without "money or gifts" being given to the Pakistani journalist.

Aroosa told The Indian Express, "I cannot believe that they can stoop so low. Sukhjinder Randhawa, PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife (Navjot Kaur Sidhu) are a pack of hyenas. They are trying to use me to embarrass Captain. I want to ask them, are they so bankrupt that they have to invoke me for their political motives?"

Referring to the Congress leaders targeting her ties to Amarinder, Aroosa said, "I have a message for them: Please grow up and put your house in order. Congress has lost its plot in Punjab. Who changes one’s general in the middle of a battle?” She said the Congress was a "deeply divided house" and was "rudderless, directionless".

Aroosa said she never interfered in political matters and had made many friends in Punjab, but "All of them switched sides and now they are rallying behind a mad man,” in an apparent reference to Sidhu.

Aroosa referred to her frequent trips to India to dismiss the claim she had links to the ISI. "I have been coming to India for two decades, for 16 years, on Captain’s invite and before that, as a journalist and as part of delegations. Have they suddenly woken up to my links? When anybody comes to India from Pakistan, he/she has to go through a cumbersome process of clearance. No process was bypassed. Due screening was done. The clearances had to be taken from R&AW, IB, Union Ministry of Home, External Affairs. They do not even allow the visa form to be filled online. They think all the agencies were allowing me just like that?" she told The Indian Express.

She wished Amarinder Singh well on his decision to start a new political party. "I wish him well. He has been a great friend. I pray for him. He is a very fine gentleman. In this huge world, he has chosen me to be his friend. I am very proud of that. I have learnt a lot from him. I feel sorry the way he was elbowed out," she said.