AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday, July 29, said that India should refrain from playing cricket with Pakistan in view of the hostility between both the countries following the Pahalgam terror attack. He made the statement during the debate on Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha.
In the backdrop of the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 to be held in the UAE from September 9 to 28 in which India and Pakistan are part of the same group, the AIMIM president said that his conscience would not allow him to watch the cricket match between both countries.
“... when Pakistan’s aircraft cannot come into our airspace, their boat cannot come into our water, trade has ended, how will you play a cricket match with Pakistan? When we are not giving water, we are stopping 80 per cent of Pakistan’s water… saying that blood and water will not flow, you will play a cricket match.”
“My conscience does not allow me to watch that match. Does this government have the courage to call those 25 dead people and say that we took revenge in Operation Sindoor and now you watch the Pakistan match? It is very sad,” Owaisi said.
The Hyderabad MP also demanded accountability for the Pahalgam terror attack, questioning the government’s security despite heavy deployment in the region.
"Who did Pahalgam? We have a 7.5 lakh army and a central paramilitary forces. From where did these four rats enter and kill our Indian citizens? On whom will accountability be fixed?" he asked.
MP Arvind Sawant (SS-UBT) also made similar remarks. Sawant wondered why India stopped the war with Pakistan without imposing any conditions when the neighbouring country was on its knees begging for a ceasefire.
“If India were in the vantage position, then what stopped the country from reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK),” he said, adding this was the opportune time to teach Pakistan a lesson like what India Gandhi had done during the 1971 war.
He expressed that it would be inappropriate for India to play cricket with Pakistan.