
RAW tried to sabotage Zimbabwe cricket team's Pakistan tour?
The home minister of Punjab province in Pakistan, Shuja Khanzada, on Wednesday alleged that the Indian spy and intelligence agency, RAW, had made attempts to ensure that the Zimbabwe cricket team did not tour the country in May.
He claimed in the Punjab assembly in Lahore that the Indian agency had attempted to sabotage the Zimbabwe cricket team's tour, which concluded successfully in late May, marking the first visit by a Test team to Pakistan in six years' time.
Khanzada alleged that India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officials had sent a text to the Zimbabwe team manager when the squad landed in Dubai with threats that if their players went to Lahore, none of them would go back alive.
"We came to know about this when the team manager forwarded that message to us and we sent it to our security agencies. When they investigated the origin of the message it belonged to an RAW official," the home minister claimed.
Zimbabwe played two T20 matches and three one-day internationals at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore with all the games drawing capacity crowd. The visiting team was given unprecedented security throughout the tour.
Even an incident during the second One-day International, when a suicide bomber allegedly blew himself up after he failed to penetrate the security ring around the Gaddafi stadium, didn't derail the tour.
Khanzada also alleged that the suicide blast was an attempt by RAW to sabotage the event.
"We foiled RAW's attempt to abandon Pakistan, Zimbabwe cricket series," he claimed.
No Test team had toured Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver and injuring some of the visiting players.
Zimbabwe agreed to undertake the tour in May after the PCB gave them financial incentives, including $12,000 to each player, although the chairman of the board Shahayrar Khan rubbished media reports that it was a bribe to the Zimbabwe cricket board to undertake the tour.

LIVE: China's Covid-19 tally rises by 9 fresh cases

Verifying reports of 3 Myanmarese cops crossing over to India, says Mizoram
- A Reuters report quoting unnamed officials stated that at least 19 Myanmarese policemen have crossed over to the Indian side through border areas in Serchip and Champhai districts

Raj Thackeray party takes credit of closing Karachi Bakery; not true, say others

'Gujarat leg of bullet train may open before Maharashtra first if...': Official

PM Modi to hold virtual summit on bilateral issues with his Sweden counterpart

Delhi HC directs UP police to give post mortem report of farmer

At least three Myanmar cops cross into India seeking refuge
- Those entering India can be granted refugee status, but they will be deported if the government decides against it

Cyber policy to factor in threat from state actors
- The 50-odd pages document, anchored by the national security adviser’s office, is now awaiting the approval from the Prime Minister’s office before it is released.

Covid-19: Phase 2 of vaccination drive stuck in first gear
- Delhi, which gave shots to 1,679 people per million population in the second phase till Wednesday night, was in the second spot, while Odisha (1,283 doses per million) was third

OTT regulations a necessity as some even show porn, says SC
- The scenes that caused offence have since been deleted, and the makers as well as the OTT company have apologised.

‘Can’t mandate perverse equality’: SC on plea over commission for women
- The medical fitness team of the Army tested close to 615 women SSC officers entitled for permanent commission, following the apex court judgment, on five counts: psychiatry, height, appendage (bone structure), physical and eye and ear.

N-E cities have the strongest feel-good factor
- The EOL report has calculated its overall scores on the basis of four parameters: quality of life, economic ability, sustainability and citizen perception.

Economic might led Bengaluru to top
- Bengaluru, India’s technology capital, is an economic powerhouse on account of the presence of some of the world’s largest corporations.

BJP names Metro Man as its Kerala CM face, then retracts
- K Surendran, the state BJP president who made the original announcement claimed he was quoted out of context.
_1614884674395_1614884685385.jpg)
Similipal blaze contained, Odisha asks for rapid response to forest fires
- The biosphere reserve spread over an area of 5569 sq km contributes 38% of the total protected area network in Odisha. It is also one of the oldest tiger reserves in the country having the largest zone of Sal trees.