Pakistan cricket fraternity slams Shiv Sena protest, demand ICC action
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Former spinner Abdul Qadir, while talking to Express News, said, "Unfortunately the trio of India, England and Australia has created a problem for cricket. If India wants a respectful solution to this problem, they should come to a third country and play the series but cricket should not end between both the countries.
"They should sit with and discuss all the problems. In my view, Pakistan-India series is bigger than Ashes and people watch it with great interest. We are playing against all countries in the UAE and I think the International Cricket Council (ICC) should interfere and schedule the matches between both the countries and that schedule should not be disturbed.
Shiv Sena storms BCCI HQ to protest Indo-Pak cricket meeting
"We should stop running after India now and put pressure on the ICC. Every cricket fan wants to see this series happening. It isn't right for the BCCI to walk away from a signed agreement." he added.
However, PCB Chairman Shahryar was still optimistic despite the incident. Talking to the Indian media, Shahryar said, "I was invited by Shashank here and the mindset is that we have signed an MoU and we should honour it."
Meanwhile, former PCB chairman Khalid Mehmood highlighted how Shiv Sena had a history of staging such protest, referring to the one that took place 14 years ago.
"Shiv Sena is repeating their past. In 1999, when Pakistan had to visit India for a series, Shiv Sena staged a protest of the same sort outside Wankhade stadium, and they ruined the pitch of the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. They also attacked late BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya’s house," Mehmood told Express News.
"But the difference at that time was that the government and the BCCI were on the same page. They both wished to play with Pakistan. Today, we are pleading for a series while in 1999 the Indian board was begging us to visit their country. They would call us time and again and we would protest that under such circumstances it was impossible to send our team to India. They went to the then Prime Minister who talked to the late Shiv Sena leader to stop violent activities.
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"Right now, the Modi government does not want the series to happen and that is the reason they are promoting such violence," he added.
Indian Premier League chairman, Rajiv Shukla, was also unhappy with the incident.
"These kind of things are completely uncalled for. There has been a dialogue between PCB and BCCI and the dialogue will continue."
Another former PCB chairman Tauqir Zia believed India wanted to isolate Pakistan, even in cricket.
"There is nothing bad in having a dialogue but we should stop pleading. Indian government wants to isolate Pakistan as a country and they are not agreeing to play cricket for the same reason," said Tauqir, while talking to Express News.
ICC president Zaheer Abbas was not a happy to hear of the development either, but opined that the world body would not be able to take notice against such an incident. ICC CEO Dave Richardson also condemned the Shiv Sena attack.
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