ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s opening batter Ibrahim Zadran, who won the Player of the Match award for scoring 87 runs against Pakistan, said on Monday he wanted to dedicate his swashbuckling innings to Afghan nationals who have been asked by the Pakistani authorities to leave in recent weeks due to security reasons.
Zadran made the statement at the post-match ceremony after his team stunned Pakistan with an eight-wicket victory at the ICC World Cup 2023, making it even more difficult for the Green Shirts to get into the semifinals of the tournament.
This was Afghanistan’s first-ever one-day victory over Pakistan as they chased down a 283-run target with an over to spare.
“I wanted to go out there with a positive mind and positive intent and I did it,” Zadran said in his brief interview while also paying tribute to fellow opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz while pointing out they had been “playing together since the under-16 days.”
“I am feeling very glad for myself, for my country,” he added. “And I will say I want to dedicate this man of the match [award] to those people who have been sent back from Pakistan to Afghanistan.”
Pakistani officials have said in recent weeks that they want to address the issue of illegal immigrants, mostly Afghan nationals, and enhance border security amid an escalation in militant attacks in different parts of the country.
Caretaker Interior minister Sarfaraz Bugti said earlier this month that Afghan nationals were involved in 14 out of 24 suicide bombings since January while explaining the rationale behind the government’s decision to warn all illegal immigrants to leave the country by November 1 or face forcible expulsion.
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott also said on Monday the “sky’s the limit” for his team after it handed a crushing defeat to Pakistan.
“I think the two opening batters that we have are very, very exceptionally talented young players and the sky’s the limit for both of them,” the former England batsman Trott noted.
“They’re different types of players and my message to them is just keep growing your own game and play your own way,” he added.
Ibrahim Zadran dedicates Player of the Match award to Afghans facing expulsion from Pakistan
https://arab.news/mfhen
Ibrahim Zadran dedicates Player of the Match award to Afghans facing expulsion from Pakistan
- Zadran’s 87-run knock helped Afghanistan stun Pakistan with an eight-wicket victory at the ICC World Cup
- Pakistan has asked ‘illegal immigrants,’ mostly Afghans, to leave in recent weeks amid rising militant attacks
Pakistan’s Sindh orders inquiry after clashes at Imran Khan party rally in Karachi
- Khan’s PTI party accuses police of shelling to disperse its protesters, placing hurdles to hinder rally in Karachi
- Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah vows all those found guilty in the inquiry will be punished
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has ordered an inquiry into clashes that took place between police and supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Karachi on Sunday, as it held a rally to demand his release from prison.
The provincial government had granted PTI permission to hold a public gathering at Karachi’s Bagh-i-Jinnah Park and had also welcomed Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan’s party is in power, when he arrived in the city last week. However, the PTI cited a delay in receiving a permit and announced a last-minute change to a gate of Mazar-i-Quaid, the mausoleum of the nation’s founder.
Despite the change, PTI supporters congregated at the originally advertised venue. PTI officials claimed the party faced obstacles in reaching the venue and that its supporters were met with police intervention. Footage of police officers arresting Khan supporters in Karachi were shared widely on social media platforms.
“A complete inquiry is being held and whoever is found guilty in this, he will be punished,” Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said while speaking to a local news channel on Sunday.
Shah said the PTI had sought permission to hold its rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi from the Sindh government, even though the venue’s administration falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
He said problems arose when the no objection certificate to hold the rally was delayed for a few hours and the party announced it would hold the rally “on the road.”
The rally took place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated since August 2023, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases.
