Days after winning the hearts of numerous Indian fans with his remarks after his team's loss in the World Cup semifinal, Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has said Indians are not as large-hearted as the Pakistanis.
Afridi also slammed the Indian media for its “very negative approach” and said the Pakistani media was a “hundred times better”.
“They (the Indians) will never have hearts like Muslims and Pakistanis. I don't think they have the large and clean hearts that Allah has given us,” Afridi said during a talk show when he was asked about relations between the two countries.
“It is a very difficult thing for us to live with them (Indians) or to have long-term relationship with them. Nothing will come out of talks. See how many times in the past 60 years we have had friendship and then how many times things have gone bad,” he said.
“We don't want to fight with each other but a third country --- everyone knows which one it is --- is trying to spoil our relations. (This country) is taking advantage of Pakistan and wants to take advantage of India. I don't want to go into details but these people will not let us come together,” he added.
Asked about the Indian media's coverage of the Pakistani team during the semifinal on March 30, Afridi replied: “The Indian media has a very negative approach and very negative thoughts. The people may not be like that but I think the media had a very dirty role in spoiling relations between us and India.
{{/usCountry}}Asked about the Indian media's coverage of the Pakistani team during the semifinal on March 30, Afridi replied: “The Indian media has a very negative approach and very negative thoughts. The people may not be like that but I think the media had a very dirty role in spoiling relations between us and India.
{{/usCountry}}“Our media, which is criticised by people, is hundred times better than theirs,” he said.
Afridi also criticised Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who vowed to dedicate victory in the World Cup final to victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. “I wasn't expecting this from Gautam... this is all politics, what do you know about who carried out the Bombay attacks?” he said.The Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead, were carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.