Criticizing the Bharatiya Janata Party for the India-Pakistan match played on Sunday in the Asia Cup today, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi questioned the decision to play a cricket match with the rival country and sought clarity from the government on monetary gains compared to the loss of human life.
Speaking to the media, Owaisi said, “I have a question to the Chief Minister of Assam, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and all of them, do you have the power to refuse to play a cricket match against Pakistan, who asked the religion of our 26 citizens in Pahalgam and shot them.”
The AIMIM chief questioned the BJP whether the money earned from the match is more valuable than the lives of 26 civilians killed in the terrorist attack.
He said, “We ask the Prime Minister that when you said that blood and water cannot flow together, conversation and terrorism cannot be together, how much money the BCCI will get from a cricket match, Rs 2000 crore, Rs 3000 crore?”
He asked, “Is the price of money more than the life of our 26 citizens? It should be told to the BJP. We were standing with those 26 citizens tomorrow, are still standing with them today and will stand with them tomorrow.”
In the tournament, anger over the match between India and Pakistan arises from a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 tourists were killed by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists on 22 April. There are mixed feelings about this match and there is a demand to boycott this match against Pakistan.
Earlier, Congress leader Abhishek Dutt criticized the country’s participation in the game and said the match should be canceled. Talking to ANI, Dutt said that this decision is contrary to the government’s stance of “not interacting with terrorism”.
He asked, “On one hand you talk about Operation Sindoor, say that there is no talk with terror, not business with terror. Our delegation went abroad. What message do you want to give by playing matches with Pakistan today?”
