After England and New Zealand cricket teams cancelled their Pakistan tour over security threat, Pakistan on Wednesday claimed Indians created fake IDs to issue fake threats to New Zealand players that ultimately prompted them to call off their tour of Pakistan. That Pakistanis, including their ministers like Shireen Mazari truly believe that England and New Zealand assess their terror threats based only on tweets and that these accounts were ‘created by Indians’ just goes about to show how skewed their perception of intelligence inputs is.
Not surprising — also may explain why NZ not sharing the “threat” info at all with Pak. @jacindaardern most unfortunate indeed. https://t.co/Ws1tH5AXGe
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) September 22, 2021
Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry addressed a press conference in which he said the threat received by New Zealand players had their origination in India. He further added that the threat had come via an email.
“This email was generated from India through a VPN showing the location of Singapore,” Chaudhry told reporters in Pakistan’s capital.
The minister also asserted that the West Indies team, which is going to arrive in December, had also been sent a threat that he claimed was fake.
Documents released by Pakistani government to back their assertion that India was behind the threat received by New Zealand team included a random social media post, an article published in the Sunday Guardian, a purported email threat received by New Zealand batsman Martin Guptil’s wife, and an email warning NZ police about the consequences New Zealand team could face while on their tour to Pakistan.
The random social post was uploaded by one Ehsan Ullah Ehsan on August 19, where in he asserted that a jihadi organisation was on a lookout for a prized target to be attacked in Pakistan. In the post, he contended that New Zealand could be the target of the terror organisation if it chooses to tour Pakistan.
The so-called evidence to prove India was responsible for the cancellation of the tour included an article written by Abhinandan Mishra in the Sunday Guardian. The article, which was published on August 21, discussed the possibility of terror attack against New Zealand during their tour of Pakistan. It must be noted that the last time New Zealand cricket team visited Pakistan in 2002, a suicide attack did take place in Karachi. The team had then cut short their tour and hadn’t returned since. However, after 18 years, the New Zealand cricket team again went to Pakistan, only to leave hours before the game because of specific intelligence inputs.
Yet another alleged threat that Pakistan claims has influenced New Zealand’s decision to call off their tour was a menacing email that Martin Guptil’s wife purportedly received. The email was sent by an account that identified itself as Tehreek-e-Labbaik, a far-right Islamic extremist political party in Pakistan, and which threatened of dire consequences for Martin Guptil should he choose to visit Pakistan along with the team.
Pakistan also shared an email threat sent by one Hamza Afridi to New Zealand police on September 18 in which he threatened to bomb the New Zealand team during their tour to Pakistan. As per Pakistani authorities, the IP address was connecting in India, and the gmail account via Singapore, which it said was suggestive of a VPN.
Besides, Pakistan zeroed in on one Om Prakash Mishra as the ‘mastermind’ behind the threats issued to New Zealand team. It also shared a host of email accounts such as [email protected], ch*[email protected], [email protected], lalheeralall*[email protected], pappubh*[email protected], and several others.
It must be noted that the ‘Om Prakash Mishra’ in the above image is the rapper who sang the controversial ‘Aunty ki Ghanti’ song.
The song had come under a lot of flak for sexist lyrics. Mishra had also auditioned for Indian reality show Indian Idol.
Pakistan minister accused the rapper of creating fake email ID to send a threatening mail to New Zealand team.
An unverified Twitter user by the name OmPrakash Mishra has denied the charges.
Hello @fawadchaudhry are you high on weeds? BTW, thanks for made me trending lol🤦♂️#OmPrakashMishra pic.twitter.com/3gXiZwF0bC
— Om Prakash Mishra (@OmPrakashMisraa) September 22, 2021
Mishra was having a good time mocking Pakistan.
Two minute silence for #Pakistani minister #FawadChaudhry and his intelligence system 😭#OmPrakashMishra #Pakistan #NewZealandCricket
— Om Prakash Mishra (@OmPrakashMisraa) September 22, 2021
And obviously, there were memes.
Om Prakash Mishra reply to Pakistan Cricket " Kyon match cancel kara dala na" pic.twitter.com/HaE0MTKdDn
— TheLight-win 🇮🇳 (@Prakash75557237) September 22, 2021
As we write this, we still cannot believe Pakistan government fell for this.Om Prakash Mishra behind the scenes 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/EMdvnDMli1
— ameWhy (@axxtronaut) September 22, 2021
New Zealand pulls out of Pakistan tour over security threat
An hour before the start of the 1st ODI match with Pakistan at Rawalpindi on September 17, the New Zealand cricket team decided to ‘abandon’ their tour of Pakistan over security concerns. The development came following a security alert from the Government of New Zealand.
The ‘B’ team of New Zealand was scheduled to play a 3-match ODI series against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, followed by a 5-match T20 series against them in Lahore. However, following an escalation in the New Zealand Government threat levels for Pakistan, and advice from NZC security advisors on the ground, Kiwis decided to call off the tour.
