Pakistan’s Provincial Minister for Minority Affairs, Ramesh Singh Arora, has formally invited Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and the entire Punjab Vidhan Sabha to visit Pakistan, following the Chief Minister’s recent expression of interest in attending an international Punjabi conference in Lahore.Arora, who is also the president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC), said Pakistan remained committed to strengthening religious, cultural and people-to-people ties across the border.Extending the invitation, he said, “Sardar Bhagwant Singh Mann, we salute you. You had stated on the floor of the Assembly that you wish to visit Pakistan. As Pakistan’s Minister for Minority Affairs, on behalf of the PSGPC and as a citizen of Pakistan and Punjab, I invite you.”Responding to Mann’s remarks in the Punjab Assembly, Arora reiterated Pakistan’s support for cultural exchanges, religious tourism and interfaith harmony. He expressed hope that Indian authorities would permit the visit and also invited Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and all Punjab legislators.“I do not know whether the Government of India will allow him to travel to Pakistan, but I appreciate Speaker Sahib Kultar Singh Sandhwan, with whom I share cordial ties, was also keen to visit through the Kartarpur Corridor. I invite the entire Punjab Assembly to Pakistan, not only to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur but also holy sites of other faiths so that they can see the religious freedom prevailing here,” he said.The invitation comes after Mann, during a session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on October 23, expressed his desire to accept Pakistan’s invitation to attend the fourth International Punjabi Conference in Lahore from November 27 to 29. The invitation was extended by the organisers, including Punjabi poet Baba Bashir Hussain Najmi, popularly known as Baba Najmi, and the Punjabi Parchar Organisation.However, Mann had expressed doubts over whether the BJP-led Central Government would grant the necessary political and security clearances for the visit.Taking a sarcastic jibe at the Centre, Mann had remarked, “They do not even let me go to France or Japan. How will they let me go to Pakistan?”Mann had also suggested that, if approval were granted, the entire House could travel together through the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor to pay obeisance at historic Sikh shrines in Pakistan.