Sayed Naseem Sadaat, a spokesperson of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), said on Tuesday, October 21 they have video footage of video evidence to prove that Pakistan is the culprit behind the case that killed three local cricketers in the Urgap region of Afghanistan.
Following the incident last week, the ACB has pulled the national team from next month’s Tri-Nation T20I Series in Pakistan. Sadaat’s confession comes just days after the Pakistani government denied reports that the players were murdered in an airstrike.
“We got evidence from all the cricket fraternity and all the people around the world would have definitely watched our video report on the incident that was made by our media team. So, we got clear evidence that the attack was done by a Pakistani state. After the incident, the management of the Afghanistan Cricket Board decided to cancel Afghanistan’s participation in the tri-series that was going to be hosted by Pakistan,” Sadaat said as quoted by Hindustan Times.
On a previous, Friday, October 17, the ACB showed in a post on X that the attack had killed several individuals including three local cricketers, Kabeer, Sibghatullah, and Haroon, who were heading home after a friendly match in Sharana, the capital of the Paktika province.
“The ACB considers this a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family,” it said in a statement.
Sadaat was not only highly critical of the airstrike by Pakistan but he also urged other cricket boards to condemn the same. He underlined that cricket is the game of peace and must remain untouched by war and advised the players and game to be isolated of the influence of violence.
“We call upon all the cricket boards to condemn such barbaric attacks because cricket is a game that carries the message of peace. Cricketers are peace ambassadors and they should stay away from the war. War should not be interfered with in sports. So, we call upon all the cricket fraternity and boards to condemn such attacks and keep cricket away from war,” said Sadaat.
Zimbabwe Replaces Afghanistan in Tri-Series; Matches Set Across Rawalpindi and Lahore
The ICC and the BCCI also stated in the wake of the incident that they supported ACB. With the withdrawal of Afghanistan in the tri-series, Zimbabwe was invited to be the third team with the rest being Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The series will begin on November 17 with the home team against Zimbabwe in Rawalpindi which will also take a second match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The move will then be transferred to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore which will be the venue of the remaining five matches including the final match on November 29.
