Pahalgam victim’s wife slams BCCI over India-Pak cricket match; demands its cancellation

It is like rubbing salt into the injuries of the families of the victims, says Ashanya Dwivedi

Lucknow: The wife of one of the victims of the Pahalgam killings on Saturday slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the proposed India-Pakistan cricket match in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 scheduled to be held in the UAE on Sunday and urged the people to "boycott" it and not "watch" it on TV.

Ashanya Dwivedi, whose husband Shubham Dwivedi, a Kanpur-based businessman who was among the 26 tourists gunned down by terrorists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in April this year, said that the match amounted to "disrespect" to the "martyrs" of Pahalgam.

‘’It is like rubbing salt into the injuries of the families of the victims,’’ Ashanya said.

‘’The people should boycott the match and should not watch it on TV...Don't go to the stadium,’’ she added.

Ashanya slammed the BCCI for agreeing to the match between India and Pakistan. ‘’I think the BCCI is not sensitive and has no respect for those who lost their dear ones in Pahalgam,’’ she said.

She also questioned the "silence" of the Indian cricketers. ‘’What are our cricketers doing? ... It is said that the cricketers are nationalists...BCCI is not forcing them to play against Pakistan at gunpoint…they should have refused to play,’’ Ashanya said.

She said that Pakistan would "use" the money earned through the match to encourage terrorism in India.

Pakistan-sponsored terrorists had shot dead 26 tourists in Pahalgam on April 25 this year. India later launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ to avenge the killings and target the terrorist hubs inside Pakistan.