Another Shameful feather on Pakistan’s Cap

Another political drama arose from Pakistan after they put a fake allegation on India regarding New Zealand’s cricket squad to call off their tour to Pakistan. The Information Minister of Pakistan, Fawad Chaudhry, on Wednesday allegedly told that a threatening email from India to the New Zealand cricket squad instigated them to call off a tour of the country.

It is not the first time that Pakistan has made such a statement. Earlier, at times Pakistan had claimed that India was involved in some terror attacks in the country, however, the claim had always been the other way around.

Addressing a press conference where Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was also present, Fawad Chaudhry stressed that a fake post came in the name of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militant Ehsanullah Ehsan stating that the New Zealand cricket board and the government refrained from sending the team to Pakistan as they could be targeted. But the New Zealand team arrived in Pakistan, however, they canceled the first match with regards to threats and safety reasons. Later, another email was sent to New Zealand with an ID Hamza Afridi.

Chaudhry claimed that in The Sunday Guardian on August 21, the paper’s bureau chief Abhinandan Mishra published in the paper that the New Zealand team could get attacked in Pakistan.

He also claimed that the bureau chief has close relations with former Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh.

He further said that the investigation authorities of Pakistan found out that the emails were sent from India as the device was associated with India. He said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and some authorities need to take notice of it.

The New Zealand cricket team was supposed to take this tour after 18 years but they canceled the tour, even England and Wales Cricket Board has canceled their bilateral series which was scheduled for next month in Pakistan.

On the other hand, Arindam Bagchi, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has dismissed this claim instantly. He said that it is not new for Pakistan to engage in baseless propaganda against India. They sham taking actions against terrorism which grows safely in their own country.

In this situation, the credentials of Pakistan against terrorism are questionable among the international community. When their leadership acknowledged terrorists like Osama bin Laden as ‘martyrs’ how can they be believed?

Earlier in 2016, the US had blocked $300 million in aid to Islamabad because they failed to get Congressional certification for satisfactory actions against terrorism.

The terrorist group was blamed for carrying out several attacks against the US and Indian interest in Afghanistan, hence Pakistan was supposed to take action against the terrorist group to stop them and obtain a Congressional certificate. Failing to do so, the US did not give them the certificate and stopped the aid.

All these false allegations from the Pakistan side have been proved to be useless when the nation itself is involved in promoting terrorist actions. The question arises of how far Pakistan will go to achieve growth and development in their nation when all its strength is getting wasted in baseless claims.