XtraTime Web Desk: Karnataka State Cricket Association has removed the photographs of Pakistani cricketers in protest to the Pulwama CRPF convoy attack, including the likes of Imran Khan, from the M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. The state cricket association, in a statement on Wednesday, said that the move is aimed at showing solidarity and support to the armed forces. The photographs were brought down on February 19. The cricket body said that “to show our solidarity and support to our armed forces and to express our strong protest against the recent terrorist bombing at Pulwama, we have brought down all photographs of Pakistan cricketers including Imran Khan”.
Earlier, the Cricket Club of India at its Brabourne stadium in Mumbai covered the photograph of Imran Khan, currently the Prime Minister of Pakistan, while the pictures of Pakistan players have been removed from the stadiums in Mohali, Jaipur, and Dharamsala.
“We have decided to remove all the photos of Pakistani players from our stadium to express solidarity with the families of CRPF martyred troopers in Pulwama attack,” HPCA stadium Manager Col H.S. Manhas told reporters.
The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) also removed 13 photographs of Pakistani cricketers from the picturesque HPCA stadium in Dharamsala that include the photographs of popular Pakistani cricketers like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad, Shoaib Akhtar, and Shahid Afridi.
Forty CRPF personnel were killed in the terror attack on their convoy on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on February 14. Soon after the attack, Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack and said that it was carried out by its suicide bomber.