Asked about his latest remark of “India can go to hell” whereas speaking in regards to the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) inflexible stance on not touring Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup, Pakistan legend Javed Miandad clarified his touch upon Wednesday.
“Do you know what hell means? If you don’t want to play just don’t. We don’t have a problem. Ask the Indian cricketers. They’ll also say that there should be cricket between these two teams in their respective countries. It’ll benefit both nations,” he stated.
“If they think that their (India) not coming to Pakistan makes any difference, let me tell you that it doesn’t. That’s what I meant. We are independent. Pakistan has produced world class cricketers as well as hockey players. Everywhere around the world, neighbour countries are playing with each other,” he added.
Talking about earlier encounters between India and Pakistan when the stress between the international locations had been on the wane, he stated, “Earlier we used to go there and then they used to come here. When India came to play a series in Pakistan, there were so many people from India who also came to watch. There were no hotels available and the Lahore residents invited them to their houses. It had a very good impact on the relationships between the two countries.”
Asked what his response was to the Indian media speaking about his feedback, he stated, “The media there is like this only. The competition there is very high. They even write so many things about the Indian players only and I am left surprised by them. This is not done. You should take comments in a positive way. Our press don’t react that way to Indian players. What I meant with my comment was if you are not playing, go. (Nahi khelna hain toh jaayein, humein kya hain?) Doesn’t make a difference to us. We are not interested.”
“I just want that the neighbours maintain a good relationship. There are so many Pakistani citizens who have their relatives in India and vice versa. In Pakistan, we don’t discriminate on basis of religion. When there are Hindu festivals, they are given full facilities. There are also mandirs here. What I meant by my comment was if yopu are not playing, what should we do? It’s not like if India play, we’ll get something out of it. I am just saying, there’ll be a good relationship between the two countries,” he added.
“I went and met Bal Thackeray in his house. He was so nice to me. I did 9 programmes, even on the roads. Everything went by without a glitch. There are some people in India twist things. But if you take the Indian masses, they are not like this only. My comment was also twisted. They didn’t understand what I meant. I said it in a positive way,” he stated earlier than signing off.
Following the Asian Cricket Council week final meet, the BCCI made their stand clear on the Indian group not travelling to Pakistan to play the upcoming Asia Cup. The motive behind being that it gained’t get ‘clearance from the Indian government’ to journey to Pakistan to play cricket owing to the diplomatic tensions between the 2.
