ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemned in the strongest terms the highly reprehensible attacks against Kashmiri students in India after Pakistan’s win in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup.

“This hateful behavior is reflective of the BJP-RSS combine’s extremist “Hindutva” mindset against the minorities, particularly Muslims,” Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said in a statement.

He said that equally condemnable and of deep concern are the reports that Indian authorities are charging Kashmiri students and youth under the draconian and arbitrary Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). “Clearly, such hate-mongering and Islamophobia reflects growing intolerance in India and illustrates that even the gentleman’s game of cricket is not free from its pernicious effects,” he said, adding that the Indian government must take steps to thoroughly investigate the intimidation of and violence against the Kashmiri youth and the Muslim minority in the backdrop of the T20 cricket match.

In a historic win, Pakistan defeated India in World Cup for the first time with a thumping 10-wicket victory in Dubai on October 24. Pakistan’s victory against India was widely celebrated by Pakistani community not only at home and abroad, but also by Kashmiris in the in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Indian Punjab, however, it was followed by a wave of violent attacks against Kashmiris students in the Indian Punjab.

The Indian trolls also massively abused the only Muslim player in the Indian national cricket squad – Mohammad Shami – for being a Muslim, calling him a traitor.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021