Following the defeat of India to Pakistan in the group stage match of the T20 World Cup 2021, an old Facebook post of riot accused and radical Islamist Sharjeel Imam surfaced on social media.
In a Facebook post dated June 17, 2017, Imam had confessed, “Several youngsters of our community have been celebrating the victory of Pakistan in the cricket match. When social media was not in existence, we would celebrate at our house or in our neighbourhood. On numerous occasions during childhood, I have participated in such celebrations.”
Sharjeel Imam also went on to claim that such incidents give way to miscreants to label Muslims as ‘Pakistanis’.The radical Islamist then pondered upon the fact that he knew more about Pakistani cricketer Saeed Anwar and his family than that of Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. “As a child growing up in Subzibadh in Patna, I knew more about the wife of Saeed Anwar as compared to Sourav Ganguly. There must have been some reason for the same. Find it out,” he emphasised.
Imam had further added that those ‘patriotic Indian’ Muslims who think that Indian Muslims supporting the Pakistan cricket team will cause them to be branded as Pakistanis and will create alienation, are wrong because Indian Muslims are anyway considered ‘Pakistanis’ (by the majority).
Sharjeel Imam then justified his support for Pakistan by claiming that the Indian cricket team is run by a private corporation i.e. BCCI while the Pakistan cricket team is managed by the Pakistan government.
“Everyone has the right to choose their own heroes. My first favourite poet was Iqbal Lahori and my favourite bowler was Wasim Akram,” he had concluded.
Sharjeel Imam, who has been a columnist with Leftist propaganda website The Wire, The Quint and even FirstPost, was seen giving incendiary speeches to provoke and instigate riots in Jamia Nagar. He was also heard instigating people to organise a blockade and cut off North-Eastern states from the rest of India to force the government to concede to their demands. He was arrested by Delhi Police on 28th January 2020 from Bihar.
Kashmiri students thrashed for cheering for Pakistan, booked under UAPA
Kashmiri students at the Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology in Sangrur, Punjab were thrashed by students from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for cheering for Pakistan during their match against India in the T20 World Cup. Visuals of the incident were shared on social media. Videos showed rooms that were ransacked and a person could be heard saying that people from Uttar Pradesh were responsible for it.
The police said that the Kashmiris were cheering for Pakistan, which led to the scuffle. Indian Express quoted a senior police official from Sangrur as saying, “There are about 90 Kashmiri students and around 30 students from UP and Bihar in the college. Kashmiri students stay in 2 wings of the hostel. While the match was on, the students cheered when Pakistan was hitting runs. They also raised ‘azadi’ slogans.”
“After match ended, students from UP and Bihar went inside the rooms of Kashmiri students and had a scuffle with them. Later, the Kashmiri students also had a scuffle with the students from UP and Bihar. The police and college authorities pacified things overnight,” the police official added. The Kashmiri students were also charged under UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
