India Should Not Play Pakistan In The world Cup: Harbhajan Singh

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has called for drastic action against Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack.

Outrage and anger continues to pour across the nation after the ghastly attack on the CRPF convoy in Kashmir’s Pulwama district. On Thursday, a suicide bomber from the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

The bus was on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Lethpora town, about 30 km from Srinagar when the attack took place. The entire nation is in a state of shock as well as furious following the gruesome attack. The whole of India is condemning the attack and paying tribute to the fallen brave souls. The government of India has also taken some big steps in a protest to the attack.

On Saturday, the government hiked the customs duty on all goods imported from Pakistan to 200% with immediate effect, a day after it revoked the most favoured nation (MFN) status that it had given its neighbour in 1996.

The cricketing fraternity has not remained far behind either.  On Sunday, IMG-Reliance pulled out of its deal to produce television coverage of the ongoing Pakistan Super League worldwide.  Before that, DSport, which was broadcasting the game in India, had also stopped the coverage. In other show of protests, Cricket Club of India had covered the portrait of former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan in its restaurant. On Sunday, the PCA stadium in Mohali had removed the pictures of the Pakistani players. There are also calls of boycotting Pakistan in the upcoming ICC World Cup.

And now Harbhajan Singh has called for the boycott of the World Cup game against Pakistan. India are scheduled to take on Pakistan in their fourth group game on June 16 in Manchester.

“India should not play Pakistan in the world Cup. India are powerful enough to win the World Cup without having to play Pakistan,” Harbhajan Singh told Aaj Tak.

“This is a difficult time. The attack that has happened, it was unbelievable and it’s very wrong. Strict action will surely be taken by the government.  When it comes to cricket, I don’t think we should have any relations with them otherwise they will keep treating us like this.

“I don’t think India should play the World Cup match against Pakistan. Country comes first and we are all standing behind our country. Cricket or hockey or sports, it should be kept aside because this is a huge thing and repeatedly our soldiers are killed. We should stand with our country. Cricket or hockey or any sport, we don’t need to play with them,” he added.

India do not play bilateral cricket with Pakistan. The two neighbours last played a full-fledged series way back in 2007 before Pakistan visited India in 2012 for ODIs and T20Is. But after that, both the teams have only played in ICC tournaments or the Asia Cup.