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Video clip surfaces of PoK anthem ‘being played’ during cricket game in J-K’s Pulwama
A video clip has surfaced on social media in J-K purportedly showing members of Shining Star Pampore and Pulwama Tigers standing in deference as Azad Kashmir is played.
A video clip of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s anthem being played at the start of a game of cricket between two local Kashmiri teams is being widely shared in the Valley.
It purportedly shows members of Shining Star Pampore and Pulwama Tigers standing in deference as Azad Kashmir is played. Both sides are in blue jerseys.
HT can’t independently verify the authenticity of the video but according to locals, the footage is that of a club game in Pulwama in south Kashmir, the hotbed of militancy.
“We also got the clip from social media. We are investigating whether the incident really took place or was the anthem dubbed later,” Pulwama superintendent of police Mohammad Aslam said.
Video clips are the latest weapon in the strife-torn Valley, where locals continue to clash with security forces.
Several clips of alleged excesses by security forces have gone viral, so have the videos of locals abusing soldiers and young men who have joined militant ranks.
Cricket, too, has not been left untouched.
On April 5, a local team was arrested after a video clip showed them sporting Pakistan team jersey and playing the national anthem of the neighbouring country.
Pakistan backs the Kashmiri insurgency and some of the separatists favour the merger of the Valley with the neighbouring country.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of stoking unrest in the Valley, bankrolling militant groups and creating trouble on the borders.
Singing another country’s national anthem to instigate anti-national activities was illegal, Aslam said.
