Federal Minister on Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhary while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, breifed media about Indian involvement in threatening New Zealand cricket team.
Recently, New Zealand Cricket Board called off their team minutes before the first One Day International match in Rawalpindi. Following this, England Cricket Board also called off their tour to Pakistan on security concerns.
While addressing the media with Interior minister, Sheikh Rasheed, Fawad Chaudhary said that in August a post was created under the name of Ehsan Ullah Ehsan, threatening New Zealand cricket team to cancel their tour to Pakistan. This threat was posted on facebook on 19 August this year.
Moreover, Abhinandan Mishra, the bureau cheif of Sunday Guardian wrote an article. Abhinandan, a propagandist and mouthpiece of Indian government, said that New Zealand will face a terrorist attack, if they visit Pakistan.
After these social media campaigns to sabotage the New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan, another card was played. On August 24, star New Zealand cricketer, Martin Guptil’s wife received an email from an id named “Tehreek-i-Labbaik.” The user threatend her husband. However, New Zealand Cricket Team visited Pakistan despite these events.
Moving forward, New Zealand cricket officials received another threatening email on 17 September, with ID name, Hamza Afridi. After receiving the threat via email New Zealand board announced to call off their tour immediately.
Federal minister said that, after investigation we found that this email was not linked to social media. The email was sent using “Proton Mail.”
He added that after detailed investigations we discovered that the email was sent using Virtual Private Network (VPN). The location was changed to Singapore instead of it’s original location. After investigating, it was revealed that the device that sent the email was associated with India. The device had 13 other accounts with the names of Indian celebrities. However, this one account was using the name “Hamza.”
He also said that this whole drama was scripted and generated in India. He also told that the same threats have been sent to West Indies cricket team as well. West Indies cricket team is likely to visit Pakistan in December.
He also urged the government of New Zealand to share the details of the threats with government officials of Pakistan. The government of Pakistan will request interpol for it’s assistance in this case, he added.