A day after Kashmiri schoolkids played a cricket match in Pulwama district in south Kashmir in Pakistan’s national uniform amid rendition of POK anthem, the Jammu & Kashmir police lodged a case against the organisers of the cricket tournament.
Police got cracking after a video clip of the school kids surfaced on social media on Monday showing them singing POK’s “anthem” before the match wearing Pakistan team’s national colours.
SP, Pulwama, Choudhary Aslam said an FIR was lodged under relevant sections against the organisers of the event. “So far, no arrests have been made. Action would be taken against the accused after verifying the videos,” SP Aslam said.
The opening ceremony of the final of the junior cricket tournament was streamed live on social media.
A video showed members of the two teams, ‘Shining Stars Pampore’ and ‘Pulwama Tigers’, lined up facing each other before the game began with POK’s national anthem rendered on tape. Sources said the stadium was decorated with hoardings of slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Cases were lodged under 66-IT Act (for live-streaming of the event) and 13-Unlawful Activities Act (for playing POK anthem) against the organisers of the event. Parts of the anthem could be heard as players of the two teams lined up: “Bagho aur baharon wala, daryawoon kuhsarron wala, aasman hai jiska tara parcham, chand sitaron wala, jannat ke nazaron wala, Jammu aur Kashmir hamara (with beautiful gardens and scenic weather, with landscapes of the region and its mountain rivers, where sky is the flag of the state, and that flag has crescent and a star, this heavenly scene is of our Jammu & Kashmir.)” On April 2, youth of Ganderbal in central Kashmir too had played a cricket match at Wayil playground in Pakistan’s cricket uniform and also stood to the Pakistani national anthem before the match. Police had registered a case and detained 11 boys for the act.
However, the youth were let off after questioning. The match was played on April 2, when PM Modi was there to inaugurate the Chenani-Nashri tunnel, the country’s longest, on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Students wear Pakistan uniform, sing POK anthem, booked
