Ata Tarar, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information, has criticized the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) statement over the deaths of three Afghan cricket players, claiming it is prejudiced and selective. Although they did not specifically address Pakistan in their statements, the ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday offered their sympathies for the Afghan players who were killed in an aircraft strike in Paktika Province.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) chose to pull its squad from a tri-series that was set to take place in Pakistan next month, which prompted the reactions.
In the tri-series, which also includes Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe will take Afghanistan’s position, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) later declared.
In a statement released on Sunday, Tarar was quoted by NDTV Sports as saying, “We reject and denounce this statement by the ICC which implies and asserts that three Afghan cricket players were killed in Pakistani strikes.”
The ICC has not bothered to independently check the Afghanistan board’s claims and released a statement citing an attack by Pakistan, he continued.
Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism for years, the minister said, and he urged the ICC to retract its claim. On Saturday, a number of Afghan cricket players, including celebrities like Rashid Khan and Gulbadin Naib, posted on social media to express their strong condemnation of the aerial attack and the deaths that followed.
Surprisingly, the Afghanistan board followed suit a few hours after the ICC statement, and ICC Chairman Jay Shah echoed the same comments on his social media account. “The Afghanistan board made claims without providing any solid proof,” Tarar stated.
Recent events, including as the Asia Cup no-handshake incident, could be interpreted as proof of a prejudice against Pakistani cricket, Tarar added.
The independence and impartiality of the ICC are strongly called into question by this. An international sports governing body shouldn’t support a contentious assertion that hasn’t been confirmed. Tarar stated, “The ICC should continue to be independent and refrain from making controversial remarks about inciting others.”
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