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‘Directed by Indian Armed Forces’: BJP's fiery response to Haris Rauf's gestures during Ind vs Pak
Pakistan Sahibzada Farhan had also triggered controversy after he celebrated his half-century by pointing his bat like a gun, a gesture likened to ‘AK-47’.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded to Pakistani cricketer Haris Rauf's gestures in which he had hinted at the four-day military clash between the two neighbours during the Asia Cup match against India in Dubai on Sunday.
The right-arm fast bowler had responded to teases from the spectators during the second innings of the match that India won, lifting his fingers and indicating '0-6' — a reference that, according to social media, was Islamabad's unsubstantiated claims of downing India's fighter jets during the military conflict in May after Operation Sindoor.
In the video that went viral on social media, Rauf was seen gesturing that planes had crashed.
ALSO READ | Team India breaks silence on Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan's provocative gestures: ‘Would have been easy to lose our…’
BJP posted a response to the Pakistani cricketer's gestures and captioned in: "Haris Rauf showed what he saw!"
The video starts off with Rauf making the crashing planes gestures, and right when he moves his hand downwards, indicating a crash, the video cuts to visuals of the blasts from India's military operation against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The first visual was titled: "What is he trying to show?" and the second video comes in with: "Ohhh...this".
The video also shows end credits: "Directed by Indian Armed Forces".
Rauf wasn't the only one to stir a controversy. Pakistani batsman Sahibzada Farhan celebrated his half-century during the first innings by pointing his bat like a gun, which was likened to an 'AK-47'.
These gestures, which viewers termed as 'unnecessary drama', also snowballed into a political controversy in India.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said Sahibzada Farhan just proved on the field how Pakistan terrorists killed 26 innocent people in Pahalgam, "gunning them down like it was nothing".
ALSO READ | ‘If you mess with India, we won't let you go’: Irfan Pathan's direct warning to Pakistan's Haris Rauf, Sahibzada Farhan
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party's Sharad Saran cited Farhan's gesture and brought back the argument that India should not have played Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj condemned Haris Rauf's gesture. He posted on X, "“In the India-Pakistan match, the Pakistani player is making a mockery of India in front of the whole world. He is making gestures of shooting down the Indian jet. Why were Pakistanis given such a world-class platform? Why didn't we walk out right then?”
India beat Pakistan by six wickets in their Asia Cup Super Four match on Sunday, their second victory in the Twenty20 tournament.
India's Operation Sindoor
The Indian armed forces on May 7 launched Operation Sindoor against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The operation was launched in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack that left 26 people dead.
India took down terrorist infrastructure belonging to outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen.
As Pakistan attempted to launch a retaliatory strike against India, most of which were thwarted by the Indian forces and air defence system, the army also struck Islamabad's airbases.
After four days of intense fighting across borders, Pakistan's director general of military operations reached out to his Indian counterpart for a cessation of all military operations. This resulted in New Delhi and Islamabad reaching a ceasefire understanding.
