Opposition raises pitch over match, Pahalgam attack victim’s widow calls for boycott

The Opposition on Saturday slammed the Centre for allowing the Indian team to play a cricket match against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday during the ongoing Asia Cup, even as the widow of a Pahalgam terror attack victim called for its boycott.

The Opposition, including the Congress, AAP and Shiv Sena (UBT), trained its guns on the government, citing the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 civilians.

Aishanya Dwivedi, the widow of a man killed in the attack, urged people to boycott the match. Accusing organisers of not looking at the grief of families who lost their loved ones, Aishanya criticised the BCCI for agreeing to the fixture.

“The BCCI should not have accepted a match between India and Pakistan. I think the BCCI is not sentimental towards the families of the victims. What are our cricketers doing? They are said to be nationalists. Cricket is viewed as our national game. Except for one or two players, nobody stepped forward to say that we should boycott the match against Pakistan. The BCCI cannot make them play at gunpoint. They should take a stand for their country. But they are not doing it,” she said.

Flaying the government over the match, the Congress said it should be ashamed. "It is business. There is excitement in India-Pakistan matches. Tickets are being sold at high prices. They do not care that our sisters' 'sindoor' has been destroyed," said Congress MP Imran Masood.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the AAP have decided to hold a protest in Maharashtra and Delhi, respectively, against the match on Sunday.

The AAP has also warned clubs, pubs and restaurants in the national capital against screening the match, as it accused the Modi government of 'humiliating' the Pahalgam attack victims.

"Pakistan's cricket players mock our widows in such a dirty, disgusting way, and we will play cricket with them. Shame on the BJP government. This is a gross humiliation of our women who lost their husbands in the Pahalgam attack, but still our central leadership is going ahead with the match," AAP's Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj posted on X.

Similarly, the Shiv Sena (UBT) also called the Sunday tie an insult to the sentiments of Indian soldiers, as it announced a 'sindoor' protest across Maharashtra. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said India should boycott the match and convey its stance on terrorism to the world.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP defended itself, saying the match was due to compulsion for the BCCI to participate in such international games.

"When multinational tournaments are organised by the ACC or ICC, it becomes a compulsion, a necessity for nations to participate. If they don't do that, they will be eliminated from the tournament, they will have to forfeit the match and the other team will get the points... India doesn't play bilateral tournaments with Pakistan," BJP MP Anurag Thakur was quoted as saying by agencies.