ISLAMABAD – Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday presented evidence, exposing the shameful role of India in cancellation of New Zealand Cricket’s tour to Pakistan over security threat.
He was addressing a press conference flanked by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in Islamabad. Chaudhry said that the device used to send threatening emails belonged on India.
The information minister further said that all the situation started from a Facebook post from a fabricated account made in the name of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant Ehsanullah Ehsan.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/new-zealand-pull-out-of-pakistan-tour-over-security-threats/
Fawad said that the fake post was shared on Facebook in August, asking NZ Cricket and government to refrain from sending the team Pakistan as militants would target the players.
After the threatening post was shared from the fake social media account, the bureau chief of The Sunday Guardian, Abhinandan Mishra, published an article claiming that the NZ team may target in Pakistan.
According to its website, The Sunday Guardian was founded by Indian politician MJ Akbar, who served as the minister in the Modi-led BJP government till 2018.
Fawad Chaudhry said that Mishra had been in contact with Amrullah Saleh, former Afghanistan vice president, before the publication of the article.
He said that on August 24, New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill’s wife received a threatening email, adding that fake ID with the username “Tehreek-i-Labbaik” was used for it.
“When we investigated further, we discovered some facts. Firstly, this email is not affiliated with any social media network […] and only one email has been generated from this account,” he said.
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He said that the NZC did not abandon the tour at this point and sent its team to Pakistan. He added that the interior ministry released a security plan as the NZ players reached the country, adding that the tourists also participated in the practice sessions.
Fawad said that New Zealand called of the tour minutes before the start of the match due to security alert.
He said that the NZ officials were asked to share the details about the treat but they were clueless.
The information minister said that a day later, a second threatening email was sent to the New Zealand team using a fake ID in the name of Hamza Afridi.
He said that when the email was probed, authorities found that it was sent from a device belonged to India.
“Email was sent through a virtual private network (VPN) so the location was shown as Singapore,” he said.
He highlighted that the same device was used for 13 other IDs, and most of them were Indian names. Only a single ID with Hamza Afridi’s name was created to give an impression that the email generated from Pakistan.
Fawad said that the user of the device had been identified as Omprakash Mishra from Maharashtra.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/dont-make-pakistan-sports-scapegoat-sheikh-rashid-claps-back-at-new-zealand/
