Kashmiri cricket team detained for wearing Pak team’s jersey

SRINAGAR:The Jammu and Kashmir Police has detained a cricket team from Kashmir which is featured in a video clip wearing Pakistan cricket team’s uniform while the country’s national anthem was being played in the background during a match.

The clip had gone viral on the social media in Kashmir.

The video and news report regarding the clip was first published by Kashmir Media Service—a news portal operated from Pakistan.

Ghulam Hassan Bhat, DIG central Kashmir confirmed that the boys were called to the police station and detained for questioning.

“The boys are in the police station and have been detained for questioning,” he said.

The team, according to police sources, represents a local cricket club from Kalmul area in Ganderbal district.

While the entire team has been detained, the locals are protesting outside the police station.

Sources say an NIA team from Delhi is likely to reach the Valley on Thursday to investigate the matter.

Shot in a scenic location surrounded by mountains, the Pakistan-based portal had identified the area as Wayil Playfield in Ganderbal district in central Kashmir. According to the web portal, the cricket match was played on April 2, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Chenani-Nashri tunnel in J&K.

According to locals, the cricket match was played between two teams. One represented “Pakistan and wore Pak team’s jersey, while the other representing India wore white uniform”. “Anthems of both the countries were played, as they are played in any international cricket match,” said a local who did not want to be named.

The players of Baba Darya Ud Din team, named after the popular saint whose shrine is situated in Ganderbal, was wearing the green uniforms.

In February, a clip of a melodious version of Pakistan’s national anthem sung by two Kashmiri musicians using traditional instruments had gone viral on social media in the Valley.