ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday said it was moving remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League to the United Arab Emirates while the Indian Premier League was separately suspended for one week in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Tensions between the rivals have escalated since Wednesday when India conducted strikes on multiple locations in Pakistan in response to a deadly attack targeting tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that New Delhi blames on its neighbor. Islamabad has denied any complicity in the attack.
Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation to strikes by India and downed 77 drones launched from India. One of the drones was shot down in the city of Rawalpindi, near a cricket stadium where PSL matches were being held.
Officials have confirmed the killing of nearly 50 people on both sides since Wednesday in the worst violence in decades between the neighbors.
“The PCB has always stood by the position that politics and sports need to be kept apart,” PCB Chair Mohsin Naqvi said as he announced that the remaining eight fixtures of this year’s PSL, previously scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore, would now be staged in the UAE.
“I regret that our domestic audience and cricket lovers will not be able to watch these matches in Pakistan’s stadiums,” Naqvi added.
Separately, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said it had decided to suspend the remainder of the ongoing IPL 2025 with immediate effect for one week.
The IPL governing council consulted the franchises and players and “considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders,” secretary Devajit Saikia said in a statement on Friday.
“While cricket remains a national passion, there is nothing greater than the nation and its sovereignty, integrity, and security of our country … The BCCI remains firmly committed to support all efforts that safeguard India and will always align its decisions in the best interest of the nation.”
Friday’s IPL match in Dharamsala was abandoned midway through, with organizers citing a power outage, while Sunday’s game at the same north Indian city was shifted to Ahmedabad because of the border tensions.
With inputs from Reuters
India suspends IPL for a week, Pakistan moves T20 league to UAE amid conflict
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India suspends IPL for a week, Pakistan moves T20 league to UAE amid conflict
- Remaining eight fixtures of PSL, scheduled for Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore, would now be staged in UAE
- BCCI says it had decided to suspend remainder of the ongoing IPL 2025 with immediate effect for one week
India has told Pakistan to control ‘drone intrusions,’ Indian army chief says
- Indian army chief General Upendra Dwivedi says at least eight drones from Pakistani have been sighted since Saturday
- Ties between nuclear-armed neighbors have been frozen since May last year when both sides engaged in fierce fighting
NEW DELHI: India’s army chief said on Tuesday that the head of Pakistan’s military operations had been told to control what he said were drone intrusions from Pakistan into India, months after the nuclear-armed rivals engaged in their worst fighting in decades.
An Indian military source said there were five drone intrusions on Sunday evening on the frontier in the Jammu region of Indian Kashmir.
In another incident on Friday, a drone from Pakistan was suspected to have dropped two pistols, three ammunition magazines, 16 bullets and one grenade that were recovered following a search, the source said.
Indian army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said at least eight drones had been sighted since Saturday.
“These drones, I believe, were defensive drones, which want to go up and see if any action was being taken,” Dwivedi told reporters at an annual press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15.
“It’s possible they also wanted to see if there were any gaps, any laxity in the Indian army, any gaps through which they could send terrorists,” he said, adding that the directors of military operations of the two sides spoke by phone on Tuesday.
“This matter was discussed ... today and they have been told that this is unacceptable to us, and please put a stop to it. This has been conveyed to them,” Dwivedi said.
Indian media reports cited army officials as saying the incursions were by military drones.
There was no immediate reaction from Pakistan to his comments.
MAY CONFLICT WAS WORST IN DECADES
Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been frozen since a four-day conflict in May, their worst in decades, that was sparked after a militant
attack on Hindu tourists in Kashmir killed 26 men. New Delhi said the attack was backed by Pakistan, allegations which Islamabad denied.
The two sides used fighter jets, missiles, drones and heavy artillery, killing dozens on both sides before agreeing to a ceasefire.
In the past, there have been reports of civilian drone intrusions from Pakistan into Indian states along the border, with Indian security agencies telling local media that they had shot down drones that were seeking to drop light arms or drugs.
Pakistan has dismissed these accusations as baseless and misleading.
India also accuses Pakistan of helping what it says are “terrorists” to enter into the Indian side of Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in a revolt against New Delhi’s rule that began in 1989 and lasted decades until the violence ebbed.
Pakistan denies the Indian accusations and says that it only provides political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris fighting against New Delhi.
