Former Indian cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday commended Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to release captured Indian Pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

“PTI Every noble act makes a way for itself… your goodwill gesture is ‘a cup of joy’ for a billion people, a nation rejoices… I am overjoyed for his parents and loved ones,” Navjot Singh said

Taking to Twitter, Sidhu termed PM Khan’s goodwill gesture ‘a cup of joy for a billion people’. “I am overjoyed for his (Abhinandan) parents and loved ones,” he added.

The Indian politician has also released an official statement condemning the flared up situation.  “It is choice, not chance that determines a nation’s destiny,” captions Sidhu.

“They must think the worst of one another because only in thinking the worst, do they believe they can protect and defend. But this belief is a mirage,” says the statement.

“Fear is an unwelcome guest here since “fear breeds fear” and also fear breeds a “fear of dialogue” and that fear does not allow one to think differently,” it reads.

In the statement, Sidhu assured everyone of his patriotism that he is a “son of the soil” and that his father was a freedom fighter and that, for him, the true test for patriotism is courage

“I stand by my deeply held principle that a community cannot be blamed for the actions of a few,” asserts the statement.

Sidhu then went on to say that “dialogue and diplomatic pressure” is the answer to curbing terrorism in the long-run.

The statement concluded that there is a choice and not the chance that will “determine our nation’s destiny. We can choose to be patriots.

To ask what kind of nationalism this is that turns Indian against Indian.”

India’s Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has also lauded the announcement of the Indian pilot’s release by Pakistan.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh over Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman to be released by Pakistan: “I’m very happy, I had demanded his release earlier too. This is going to be a step towards goodwill and I hope this will be lasting.”

“This is going to be a step towards goodwill and I hope this will be lasting,” he said.