New Delhi: India should refrain from playing cricket with Pakistan in view of the ongoing tension with the neighbouring country, Arvind Sawant (SS-UBT) and Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) said on Monday in the Lok Sabha.
The statements by the two MPs assume significance amid the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 to be held in the UAE from September 9 to 28. The tournament sees India and Pakistan once again drawn in the same group.
Participating in the special debate on Pahalgam terror strikes and Operation Sindoor, Sawant wondered why India stopped the war with Pakistan without imposing any conditions when the neighbouring country was on its knees begging for a ceasefire.
“If India were in the vantage position, then what stopped the country from reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK),” he said, adding this was the opportune time to teach Pakistan a lesson like what India Gandhi had done during the 1971 war.
Making an appeal, he said it would be inappropriate for India to play cricket with Pakistan which has wounded India many times.
The Asia Cup will be played in the T20 format, acting as a precursor to the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Expressing anguish, Sawant said not a single nation stood behind India when Operation Sindoor was carried out while China and Turkiye backed Pakistan.
Despite India’s resistance, he said, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a loan to the debt-ridden neighbouring country.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also objected to playing cricket with Pakistan in view of the situation.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that blood and water cannot flow together, and terrorism and dialogue cannot be together.
“So my question to the prime minister and the government through you is that when Pakistan’s aircraft cannot come into our airspace, their boat cannot come into our water, trade has ended, how will you play a cricket match with Pakistan? When we are not giving water, we are stopping 80 per cent of Pakistan’s water… saying that blood and water will not flow, you will play a cricket match.
“My conscience does not allow me to watch that match. Does this government have the courage to call those 25 dead people and say that we took revenge in Operation Sindoor and now you watch the Pakistan match? It is very sad,” he said.
