Protests in Pakistan on IPL snub

Rezaul H Laskar and M Zulqernain

Lahore/Islamabad, Jan 21 (PTI) Pakistani civil society
groups and political and religious parties Thursday protested
the perceived snub of the country’s cricketers in the auction
for the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament in
India, even as an association of cable TV operators said they
would boycott its broadcast.
Members of a civil society group burnt effigies of
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi outside the Press Club in the
eastern city of Lahore.
Modi has earned the ire of political leaders and
Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ejaz Butt, who has accused him of
"betraying" the Pakistani players.
The Cable Operators Association of Pakistan said, it
would boycott all matches of the third edition of IPL.
The members of the association said their networks
will not air any channel that beams the IPL matches.
Addressing a news conference in the Lahore Press
Club, CAP president Jabbar Ahmed Khan said his group had
condemned the attitude of the organisers of IPL.
The decision to boycott the Indian Premier League
matches was made in a meeting of CAP and will be implemented
across the country, he said.
Even leaders of religious parties, which do not
usually comment on sports activities, joined the fray
Thursday.

Hardline Jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar Hasan said:
"Pakistanis must boycott IPL matches on television, ban the
use of Indian products and stop watching Indian films
featuring Bollywood stars who are IPL franchisees till an
official apology is received from the Indian government and
the IPL organisers."
The opposition PML-Q said the rejection of the
Pakistani players in the IPL auction had exposed anti-Pakistan
feelings in India. "No matter how much the Indians blow their
trumpet about being liberal, educated and cultured people,
this act has only revealed their anti-Pakistan intentions,"
senior PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi said.
Moonis Elahi, another PML-Q leader, said the Pakistan
government, PCB and Pakistani cricketers should open their
eyes and stop compromising the country’s prestige for
"personal and selfish gains."
After the main opposition PML-N said yesterday that
its members would boycott official visits to India as a mark
of protest over the perceived IPL snub, National Assembly
Speaker Fehmida Mirza announced that no parliamentary
delegations will be sent to the neighbouring country.
Twenty20 champions Pakistan were stunned after none
of the country’s 11 players were signed up during the IPL
auction earlier this week. The PCB reacted with anger and
disappointment, with Chairman Ijaz Butt saying he was "highly
disappointed" by the manner in which his players were treated.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik was particularly
scathing in his criticism of the treatment meted out to
Pakistani players, saying India should apologise and send a
delegation to take the cricketers from Pakistan. PTI MZ
ANU