News Desk |
Pakistan Foreign Office recorded protests over the unruly behavior of Afghan spectators towards Pakistani fans in the stadium, during the Pak-Afghan ICC cricket match on Saturday.
The aggressive Afghan supporters exhibited their hatred by targeting the Pakistani fans subject to physical and verbal abuse during a high-strung match, in which Pakistan clinched victory against Afghanistan with three wickets.
“The flying of anti-Pakistan banners, are an unruly conduct of a certain group of spectators toward Pakistan team players, and scuffles during the Pakistan-Afghanistan World Cup cricket match are a matter of deep concern,” foreign office statement issued on Sunday.
ICC has taken notice of the incident and stated that they are closely working with the Yorkshire Police to punish the miscreants.
Pakistan and Afghanistan clashed on Sunday in Leeds during the cricket match. Certain factions of the Afghan supporters brawled with the Pakistani supporters and security officials and as they hurled abuses, both outside and inside the stadium.
A disheartened Afghani fan jumped in the field to attack the Pakistani duo Imad Wasim and Wahab Riaz, as the players headed to the dressing room after the match. Pictures circulating on social media show a security official nabbed a fierce Afghani fan while Pakistani players were escorted safely to the dressing room by Police officials.
The wild Afghan supporters attacked a Pakistani journalist who remained unhurt in the incident as security officials came to his rescue.
The Foreign Office of Pakistan condemned the use of sports for promoting malicious agendas against Pakistan. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, disapproved the harsh behaviour of Afghan supporters, stating that there should be no politics in sports.
Read more: Afghan fans create disturbance outside stadium
He mentioned that the International Cricket Council took notice of the situation. Similarly, Pakistan has also registered a protest in the British Foreign office over a campaign against the country.
Earlier, Shah Mehmood Qureshi stated that he is confident about Pakistan’s victory over Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
ICC has taken notice of the incident and stated that they are closely working with the Yorkshire Police to punish the miscreants.
“We are aware of the scuffles amongst the fans and are currently working with the venue security team and the local police force, West Yorkshire Police, to ensure there are no further incidents,” an ICC spokesperson said.
“We do not condone this type of behaviour, and will take appropriate actions against any anti-social behaviour that spoils the enjoyment for the majority of fans.”
Read more: “We will Crush you”: Shoaib Akhtar Bashes the Afghan Cricket Team
“We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and will work with West Yorkshire police to deal with and understand why this has happened and to ensure it does not happen again,” added the ICC spokesperson.
The social media criticised the Afghan supporters by condemning their behaviour on Saturday.