Days after thanking the Indian crowd for their hospitality, the all-rounder has said Indians are not as large-hearted as Pakistanis.
Pakistani cricket captain Shahid Afridi won several hearts with his remarks after his team’s 29-run loss to India in the World Cup semi-final in Mohali on March 30. However, days after thanking the Indian crowd for their hospitality, the all-rounder has said Indians are not as large-hearted as Pakistanis.
“If I have to tell the truth, they (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 on Samaa news channel.
“It is very difficult for us to live with them (Indians) or to have a 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. The audience in the studio applauded him repeatedly.
Afridi also criticised interior minister Rehman Malik for warning the Pakistani team not to get involved in match-fixing and Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, who vowed to dedicate the victory in the World Cup final to victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
“I think they were very stupid comments by Malik and Gambhir... I wasn’t expecting this from Gautam... All this is politics. What do you know about who carried out the Bombay attacks?” he said. The terror attack left 166 people dead. Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Ajmal Amir Kasab has been awarded the death sentence for his role in the terror attack.
About the Indian media’s coverage of the Pakistani team during the semi-final, Afridi said: “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 (Pakistan) and India.” He added: “Our media, which is criticised by people, is hundred times better than theirs.”
The Pakistani skipper also said a third country is trying to spoil India-Pakistan 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,” Afridi said.
Former Pakistani skipper Aamir Sohail slammed Afridi for his comments against the Indians. He said Afridi should not have made the remarks just after the goodwill generated in the aftermath of the semi-final clash.
“I think Afridi should not have made such comments. You’ve got to respect every individual. His statement is kind of immaturish and at the same time untimely,” Sohail said.
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