Pakistani fans glued to a special scoreboard in the streets of Karachi and Lahore cheered uncontrollably when the first Indian wicket fell during the Pakistan vs India World Cup match, held on February 15. The cheers got louder as a second wicket fell within seconds. And then, another and another and another. Something wasn't right.
The numbers on the scoreboard kept rising beyond 10, 11, 50, 100, 1,000 -- till they reached 0/547,290 for India and 0/546,371 for Pakistan.
The wickets were falling but not on the cricket field. The scoreboard, you see, represented a tally of the number of lives lost on either side of the Pakistan and India border since 1947.
Indian news channel Zee News, as part of its OOH campaign, displayed the scoreboards across Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi, Lahore and Karachi, according to afaqs.com.
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While spectators thought they were the ordinary, run-of-the-mill scoreboards, to keep on-lookers updated on the match, they were caught off-guard as the numbers didn't tally.
Initially mistaking them for ‘faulty’ scoreboards, people began comprehending the campaign's powerful message at the end of the match: 'When Lives are lost, No One Wins.'
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The numbers reflected the number of lives lost during battles fought between the two countries on both sides of the borders since they gained independence in 1947.
The message from the 'misunderstood scoreboard' clearly affected many people, who came forward to light candles at the site in memory of the fallen.
Last year saw the worst flare-up of tensions at the LoC between the two countries since 2003, while 2015 also began with an increase in border violations.
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