Pahalgam attack: Shahid Afridi calls Indian Army 'useless', demands proof of Pakistan's involvement

Pakistan cricket legend Shahid Afridi pinned the blame of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack on the Indian Army, calling them “incompetent” for their inability to protect civilians from terrorists. The former all-rounder’s comments came nearly a week after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in the deadliest terror attack on civilians on Indian soil since the 26/11 attacks in 2008.

‘Even if a cracker bursts in India, they blame it on Pakistan’: Afridi

Afridi, known for making controversial statements from time to time, also asked India to provide proof of Pakistan’s involvement in the incident before blaming their neighbours while slamming the Indian media’s coverage of the tragedy.

“Even if a cracker bursts in India, they blame it on Pakistan. You have an 8 lakh-strong army in Kashmir, yet this happened. This means you are useless, not being able to provide security to people,” Afridi said on Pakistani news channel Samaa TV.

“It’s surprising that within an hour of the attack, their media turned into Bollywood. For God’s sake, don’t make everything Bollywood. I was astonished I was enjoying the way they were talking.

“I was saying, look at their thinking, and they call themselves educated. Two cricketers have played so much cricket for India. They have been ambassadors and top cricketers, yet they directly blame Pakistan,” he added.

The Indian government has responded to the deadly incident, which took place at the Baisaran Valley in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday, by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty as well as closing the Attari-Wagah checkpost and suspending all visas for Pakistani nationals.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, meanwhile, is considering the prospect of completely boycotting Pakistan in international cricket . While India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket for more than a decade, they continue to face each other in ICC and Asian events, finding themselves in the same group when the tournament is not played in a round-robin format.

Ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly is among the former Indian cricketers who have supported the idea of a total cricketing boycott of Pakistan . “100 per cent, this (breaking ties with Pakistan) should be done. Strict action is necessary. It is no joke that such things happen every year. Terrorism cannot be tolerated,” ‘Dada’ had said on Friday.